Coping with Workplace Interruptions
November 21, 2012
“Yeah, my feeling is that the modern workplace is structured completely wrong. It’s really optimized for interruptions. And interruptions are the enemy of work.”
-Jason Fried | Co-founder, 37signals
This post is based on Jason Fried’s excellent BigThink interview, Why You Can’t Work at Work. Please watch and proceed!
I remember the first time I watched Jason Fried’s video on workplace interruptions. It was a few years ago and I was working in a typically-structured modern workplace. After a full day of meetings and impromptu discussions and “urgent” emails, I was exhausted. I had worked a full day, spending much of it talking about implementable ideas and process improvements, and when it was time to go home I felt like nothing was complete. What happened?
Interruptions happened, and interruptions keep happening in practically every office in corporate America (and beyond). The email stream. The social media feed. The shoulder tap. The desk knock. The quick meeting. The long meeting. The mere anticipation of an interruption. I could keep going but you don’t need me to. You’ve probably already been interrupted since you started reading. This very post could be an interruption you’ve allowed into your workflow. A constant state of interruption seems to be the one we’re living in, and it’s not doing us any favors.
The study of the effect of disruptions on job performance is known as “interruption science,” and there is much evidence legitimizing what we know to be true: interruptions make us less productive. We think we’re multitasking, but we’re just getting nowhere fast. We’re working longer, but not smarter. We’re more stressed, tired, and distracted. Take this infographic from Atlassian, which estimates up to 60% of work time is spent unproductively. That may seem high, but given the amount of emails, meetings, and interruptions that the average worker has to endure daily it’s not that hard to believe.
So what’s a worker to do to minimize interruptions and maximize productivity? I humbly offer a few ideas here, and encourage you to supplement this list with what has worked for you:
1) Have a process in place.
This is #1. I don’t care what the process is, but you need something built in to your organization to minimize distractions as much as possible. We use Scrum at OpenView. It doesn’t always work perfectly, but it instills a respect for our colleague’s time that seems rare in the modern workplace.
In Jason Fried’s video, he advocates using software that works for you (he mentions his own, Campfire). Do some experimenting and see how a new framework or software might make all the difference.
2) Practice awareness and set an example.
Now that you’re more aware of interruptions and their effect on productivity, don’t go hollering your coworker’s name across the room when you need something. This is especially important for managers to keep in mind. Fried laments that “management means interrupting,” but management should also mean respect for, and trust in, your employees. Management has the power to determine expectations and culture. Ultimately, Fried says “quality is the leader, and everyone has to understand that that’s what this is all about.”
3) Close. The. Browser. Seriously. Close it.
Forty percent of distractions are caused by us choosing to stop what we’re doing to do something else. So close Outlook. Close Firefox. Close Twitter. Close it and commit yourself to a period of uninterrupted work. This might not be realistic in all office environments. Do what you can. Your time is valuable and it is a commodity. Manage it accordingly.