Managers need to understand, also, the difference between breaks and interruptions. When I get up to get coffee, that's a break. I will be cordial and pleasant

Managers need to understand, also, the difference between breaks and interruptions. When I get up to get coffee, that's a break. I will be cordial and pleasant because I can still keep a flow going while having superficial interactions, but if you ask me, "How's the <X> coming along?", now I'm in Sales Mode. That's an interruption. The context switch from programming to getting-coffee cordiality is recoverable; that between doing work and selling work is a 3-hour loss. It's a game of 52-card Pickup that I didn't agree to play. I don't mind selling. Sales Mode has a place. However, when I'm selling, it's a different kind of flow. Oh, and when I'm in a system that artificially limits me to one client, it's a bit emotionally unpleasant so it really disrupts my game to have to go into that kind of Sales Mode on an impromptu drop. See, managers are professional salesmen. They sell their reports on the assigned project (the good ones do; the bad ones just say, "do it or I'll fucka-you-uppa") and higher-ups on what they can deliver. For them, the flowful state is selling. That's part of the problem. They don't see it as onerous to put a programmer into Sales Mode instead of Work Mode for 15 minutes, because they're always in Sales Mode. I used to think sales was this horrible burden, but as I get older and better, I enjoy the "thrill of the chase". When you job hop, you start getting used to selling yourself and hate it less. (You never stop hating cold calls and resume walls, but interviews become fun once you're half-decent.) However, if it's 2:37pm and I'm solving a difficult problem, putting me into Sales Mode on an impromptu fuck-you-I-can-do-this drop is just rude. I wasn't ready for that, asshole. You didn't give me fair warning. Now it's 2:53pm and I might as well go the fuck home, because it will be dark by the time I get that state back. Thanks for that. Also, the real danger is that managers who annoy their reports with impromptu status pings end up creating an environment where people pre-emptively avoid going into flow because there is no point. Then, nothing gets done. People play Farmville because status checks (as long as you're a decent bullshitter) are less annoying that way.