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> That's at least halving my productivity. That is bold claim, and I struggle to believe it. Are you writing from the perspective of "flow"? In my experience

by throwaway2037 2y ago

> That's at least halving my productivity. That is bold claim, and I struggle to believe it. Are you writing from the perspective of "flow"? In my experience, the people who talk the most about "flow", are the ones who are trying to avoid communicating with teammates / managers.

zeta0134 2y ago
We're trying to avoid communication with teammates and managers because it breaks flow. All the engineers on my team understand this, generally send me chat messages to kick off a convo, and do not expect instant replies. I offer them the same courtesy. Re-establishing context after an interruption takes a tremendous amount of energy. Now, admittedly, standing up for a stretch does not break my flow. Neither does walking around my house or doing the dishes. Generally it's talking to another human that'll do it every time. Light exercise should be more than possible to work into your day once it becomes familiar and routine.
- exe34 2y ago
  it's because when you get up for a walk, or wash the dishes, you use different parts of your brain. it's the same as knitting (i.e for an experienced knitter, not a beginner) while watching TV. talking to another person, especially about work related issues, pushes the previous stuff onto a very short stack, and the stack overflows immediately. often times it's not about trying to get the stuff back in mind as it was before, but having to go through the entire series of steps again to get there.
exe34 2y ago
in my experience, the people complaining about others not communicating enough are insecure extroverts that just can't stand the sound of their own thoughts and just need constant approval from others in the form of attention. schedule a meeting once a week and we'll catch up. if you're stuck, send me an email and I'll get back to you when it won't interrupt my own work.

zeta0134 2y ago

We're trying to avoid communication with teammates and managers because it breaks flow. All the engineers on my team understand this, generally send me chat messages to kick off a convo, and do not expect instant replies. I offer them the same courtesy. Re-establishing context after an interruption takes a tremendous amount of energy. Now, admittedly, standing up for a stretch does not break my flow. Neither does walking around my house or doing the dishes. Generally it's talking to another human that'll do it every time. Light exercise should be more than possible to work into your day once it becomes familiar and routine.

exe34 2y ago
it's because when you get up for a walk, or wash the dishes, you use different parts of your brain. it's the same as knitting (i.e for an experienced knitter, not a beginner) while watching TV. talking to another person, especially about work related issues, pushes the previous stuff onto a very short stack, and the stack overflows immediately. often times it's not about trying to get the stuff back in mind as it was before, but having to go through the entire series of steps again to get there.

exe34 2y ago

in my experience, the people complaining about others not communicating enough are insecure extroverts that just can't stand the sound of their own thoughts and just need constant approval from others in the form of attention. schedule a meeting once a week and we'll catch up. if you're stuck, send me an email and I'll get back to you when it won't interrupt my own work.