My two cents about interruptions and how to avoid them

What`s so bad about interruptions?

Interruptions are a particular kind of interaction. Not all interactions are evil: collaboration, if done in the proper way, brings value to the table. The problem are unsolicited interactions (= interruptions).

There is a whole branch of research dedicated to the interruption science, the vast majority in the anthropological field. Some data, just to grasp the importance of the problem:

The average office worker is interrupted seventy-three times every day. And the average manager is interrupted every eight minutes

[Dr. Richard Swenson, 1992]

Interruptions and the requisite recovery time consume 28 percent of a worker’s day

["The cost of not paying attention", Jonathan B. Spira, Joshua B. Feintuch, 2005]

Once there is an interruption, statistics tell us that it takes 20 minutes to get back to the level of concentration that we were at prior to the disruption.

[Cubesmart Inc., 2002]

To understand why exactly interruptions generate time losses, lets take a look at this diagram by Dr. Tétard, the father of the Theory of the Fragmentation of Working Time:

Even if you do exactly nothing in response to an interruption, it will nonetheless generate a time loss, due to the recovery time required to return to your previous level of concentration. This is why interruptions are bad.

Not all interruptions have the same impact, though: those that result in a prolonged shift of focus from the primary tasks require an increased recovery time.

The worst breed of interruptions

There are various sources of interruptions, and some are easier to control than others.

In particular, those that occur via a medium are easier to control: think about emails, phone calls and chat messages. Shut down the medium are youll be instantly interruption-free.

But in-person interruptions, when someone invades your space physically, are a lot harder to defeat and require a little strategy.

This kind of interruption is strongly correlated with workspace design.

                     

The link between in-person interruptions and workspace design

There are three kinds of workspace design:

1) open space: no barriers between individual workstations

2) cubicles: some degree of separation between workstations

3) separated offices: each employees got his own office

Some companies use a mix of them, which is sad because it means environment is used as a benefit instead of a mean to enhance work productivity.

If you work in an environment where physical barriers between you and your collegues are low (open space or cubicle), I bet you experience interruptions very frequently. You might already have noticed that you are most likely to get things done when the office is empty, early in the morning or late in the evening. Infact no people = no in-person interruptions.

How to avoid interruptions

Some companies like IBM introduced Think! Fridays in their routine to take care of the problem. Which is like saying Ok, interruptions are bad: lets do something to limit them, but just one day every workweek.

As fool as this might seem, there is a logic behind this choice IMHO: they just dont know exactly how to limit interruptions. What they do with think fridays is limiting every kind of interaction, which is not a suitable everyday solution because it harms collaboration.

                    

What can you as a single individual worker do to avoid being interrupted?

1) Decide how often you need to synch with your co-workers and customers (each hour? every three hours? ), which varies according to your role within the organization.

2) Mute your phone. If theres someone whose calls you cant afford to miss (like your boss or wife/husband) set specific ring tones for them.

3) Start checking your email and missed phone calls at scheduled times (see no. 1) during the day and plan follow-up actions if required.

4) Every time one of your co-workers interrupts you personally, tell him to send you an email. Trying to reply quickly by voice is bad for two reasons: 1) It prolongues the shift of focus from the task you were working on, thus resulting in an increased recovery time 2) Youll rush things up, with a great chance of committing a mistake.

Email is good because it lets you collect input in passive mode and process it all at the right time (YOU decided).

4) Raise barriers that suggest in a subtle way you dont want to be interrupted: a pair of headphones or a chair placed in the entrance of your cubicle can do magic.