This is precisely why, at work, when I need to speak to a programmer (I'm more of a project manager): I tend to Gchat them instead of walking over. I used to th

This is precisely why, at work, when I need to speak to a programmer (I'm more of a project manager): I tend to Gchat them instead of walking over. I used to the opposite and felt anti-social when I g-chatted. Now, if I want to avoid feeling anti-social, I walk over after the Gchat session has begun. This way I know they've moved their attention to me on roughly their own time... and if they were coding they hopefully wouldn't even see my chat until they at least finished the roll they were on. Another option is email, of course... but IMs have a much more 'I would like to talk in the near term' vibe to them! (I've realized some of this by beginning to script more myself...)