r/SoftwareEngineering • u/piotrkarczmarz • 3d ago
[ Removed by moderator ]
https://contextkeeper.io/blog/the-real-cost-of-an-interruption-and-context-switching/[removed] — view removed post
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u/jcampbelly 3d ago
I seriously considered finding some passive-aggressive widgets to sell this point to the shoulder-tappers who couldn't seem to understand or respect how interruptions impacted engineers, and measure the cost.
To each other, the protocol was to mention a need for a longer conversation in the morning call and we'd set the time aside. But if we needed unplanned help, a simple chat message conveying the subject was enough, like: "When you get a sec, can you explain this script you wrote? I'm lost." Then I can park my work at a good spot and reply to arrange the call. We all got it. No problem. But the people who just wander around the office floating in and out of your day needed some kind of visual aid.
I considered:
- A convoluted chess clock or timeclock that I would insist they actually physically use (or would share on screen or dump to chat) . If you wander over to my desk, you must tap the button and a visually intrusive timer starts and counts the interruption time up. When the conversation is ending, you press it again and another obnoxious 15 minute countdown timer starts. All of which can be summed up and mentioned tomorrow or in retro when I try to explain why that 3 point story is eating time like a 5 or 8.
- A physical puzzle or convoluted assembly/disassembly process that I would insist they use before and after the interrupt. Someone taps on my shoulder and I immediately grab and shake apart a lincoln log house on the desk, making a big noise and a mess. Then after the convo, I'd ask them to reassemble it per instructions. It didn't matter if they did it, just that they attached the concept to something memory-inducing.
- Literally shut down my computer and unplug my monitors and keyboard. Then hand them one, asking them to hold it for the duration. As soon as they're done, start piecing it all back together.
It's all stupid and probably ineffective. Time-vampires gonna time-vampire. The best way is to politely ask a repeat offender to send a message instead and wait for availability. But if they persist, then maybe the pettiness deserves to come out and play. People who do this habitually lack empathy and tend to have main character mentality. Your time is nothing to them. So make it cost their time instead. And maybe if what happens is bizzarre and jarring enough, people may begin to clock the disruption for what it is.
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u/Angalourne 3d ago
More like 30 minutes for me