Workplace Interruptions Productivity

I always found the fact that I can be interrupted at any time in the office very annoying. When I was in the flow and then someone comes up with a question that makes me switch context, then that affected productivity badly. Other colleagues raised this too and in the end we adopted a rule that you either ask a question on Slack or schedule an appointment. After that we found we could get much more done. Some people didn't like this though and left, but with the remaining devs we had an awe

What you're describing is "taking a break", at your schedule, when you need it. Having other people interrupting / bothering you while you're trying to focus is a poor substitute for taking breaks.

I'm constantly bombarded with "quick" questions from coworkers about how some part of my code works (or more often why it doesn't). After several such interruptions it's harder and harder to even try to focus, maybe some kind of neurosis, fear of being interrupted once you are again in flow?

Exactly this! Many, in particular SW devs, are very concerned with not being interrupted, because it lowers their productivity. But in my opinion, you should optimize for team productivity, not your own productivity. That can for example mean taking 5 minutes to answer a question that they could find out for themselves with a few hours of digging through the code.

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

A recent high-priority project allowed me to tell people they couldn't bother me for 6 of my 8 hours in the office. It's been awesome for my morale and my productivity both.I love helping others, but being interrupted constantly is incredibly frustrating. It can wait until tomorrow.

"Interruption" is only one side of the coin, there's usually a reason why somebody is interrupting you and not being able to interrupt you (=not get an important information) will often cost a lot for their productivity.I think it heavily depends on the person and type of work. I'm SWE and for most daily work I don't mind getting interrupted - I'm able to get back to work without a problem. It's only if I work on an extra difficult problem which requires ver

The things that are on schedule are one part but there are other things not on the schedule when you have scheduled a few days to do programming.I find it hard to balance between being unavailable to my colleagues/users and being interrupted all the time. Often the most efficient way to solve a software problem is to just come to the developer and resolve it together in a few minutes. These interruptions happen at random though and are hard to plan. Some days there are none and other day

There is a point where frequent interruptions are counter-productive. The good middle ground between productivity and socialization that I found was to be heads down except for meetings and lunch. I get long stretches of focus time, and also get to joke around with colleagues.

I agree although it takes me time to get back in the zone so I like to block out all interruptions to flow (meetings, whiteboard sessions, etc.). Worst thing is having a meeting every other hour since that just ruins a day for me. I can handle occasional slack messages since they require little concentration to punt. It's part of why I WFH a few days a week and schedule all my meetings early in the week.