Driven to Distraction by Technology 261
Ant writes "CNET News.com says 'The typical office worker is interrupted every three minutes by a phone call, e-mail, instant message or other distraction. The problem is that it takes about eight uninterrupted minutes for the brains to get into a really creative state. The result, says Carl Honore, journalist and author of "In Praise of Slowness," is a situation where the digital communications that were supposed to make working lives run more smoothly are actually preventing people from getting critical tasks accomplished.'"
Problem pretty easily solved (Score:5, Informative)
Just run a silent system. No bells or chimes to signal when new email comes in. Have your phone light up, not ring. I never IM, as it annoys the hell out of me in general, so my distractions rarely, if ever, register enough to take me away from my work.
Also, the same studies that say you need eight minutes to charge up say that your brain is only good for about twenty minutes at a clip, and then processing effectivness takes a big dive. Therefore, you can surface every half hour or so to check up on what you've missed.
But the people stopping by... There's now way to fix that, except maybe not showing or begin collecting rare cheeses.
Personnal responsibility (Score:1, Informative)
At what point do people take responsibility for their work? Most of us have actual tasks that we need to accomplish. If we can't get our work done because we're being distracted, can't we just remove the distraction?
-Disable IM when you're really busy
-Check email less frequently
-Let calls go to voicemail occasionally
-Administer the fist of death to those people who constantly interrupt
Sure I'm oversimplifying. You get the point though. I hope...
Re:I don't believe it (Score:1, Informative)
bullcrap (Score:2, Informative)
Personally I only answer the phone if it's my wife (w/ small baby at home) or a number I don't recognize which is rare. As for email, IM, etc., they are turned off and only checked twice a day.
And by the way, for any low functioning PHBs that read slashdot: none of that other shit is any more distracting than you walking by my desk, pulling up a chair and asking "so, where are we" every couple of hours. In fact, probably all of them combined are less distracting because I can ignore them easily and don't get pissed off every time they interrupt me. You on the other hand...
This has been known since at least 1987... (Score:1, Informative)
http://www.dorsethouse.com/books/pw.html [dorsethouse.com]
I first read about it in "The Art Of Designing Embedded Systems" by Jack Ganssle. The crux of the argument:
1. It takes 15 minutes to fully make a context switch
2. Interruptions (especially in cubes) come about every 10 minutes, on average
3. The most productive coders were about 260% more productive than the least productive coders
4. The most productive coders had quiet workspaces without interruptions. Experience, etc, mattered much less in the productivity rates.
5. Therefore, quiet workspaces can yield a 260% increase in productivity.
Following that, private offices are *cheaper* (by an order of magnitude or more -- see Ganssle for the calculations) than cubicles, because the increased productivity swamps any increase in cost/sq ft.
Re:It's not the technology, its the people! (Score:3, Informative)
Your phone might have that feature too.