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Losing focus: Why tech is getting in the way of work

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Losing focus: Why tech is getting in the way of work

#31

Post by smarterchild »

atom-morgan wrote: post #25

I'm not ashamed to admit that I use SelfControl [1] when I really need it. That way I literally can't access social media, HN, etc. [1] https://selfcontrolapp.com/

I really like the use of tools that make focus the default, low-motivation option. If you're not on a Mac, Firefox has LeechBlock[1] and Chrome has StayFocusd[2]. Also, if you're on HN, there are built-in settings under your username you can use to limit how long you can access the site for every few hours.

Ironically, that's why I'm on HN now. I know I only have 15 minutes and then I won't get to use it for another few hours. :)

[1]https://addons.mozilla.org/En-US/firefox/addon/leechblock/

[2]https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankej...

Re: Losing focus: Why tech is getting in the way of work

#33

Post by roskilli »

ohitsdom wrote: post #18
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #12

For me personally it's not so much incoming notifications that distract me, but my colleagues. We're a small team of iOS and Android developers (about seven people total), and there's an almost constant buzz of random activities about various subjects - 90% of which are not directly relevant to me, but sometimes they are. Plus I have a colleague that Demands I Look At His Code Now from time to time. On the one side I…

I think there are a lot of ways you can help out the "look at my code now" guy. Even a simple "give me a few minutes to finish up what I'm working on" could go a long way. If you do it regularly enough, it should be a constant reminder to him that you have work too and he may start asking you to look "when you are free".

I'm not usually a guy that asks for a code review to be done directly by pinging the reviewers, but I've found on certain projects there are colleagues who will unfortunately _never_ review any diffs I have with them listed even as the sole reviewers until I ask them.

This is unfortunate but means that I fall behind by however long I don't ask them to review my code for :( Others are great and I don't have to ping them directly and they can tell how urgent a review is or isn't usually.

Not commenting specifically on any situations discussed here but just realizing I do sit on the other side of the fence from time to time.

Re: Losing focus: Why tech is getting in the way of work

#34

Post by mariojv »

philippeback wrote: post #22

I am using Focus@Will a lot. Works for me.

I just started using this and really like it. I spend a lot of time setting up music and playlists for coding since the office can get pretty loud without headphones. This has some good ambient music that plays pretty seamlessly without the listener having to think much about it.

Re: Losing focus: Why tech is getting in the way of work

#35

Post by ohitsdom »

roskilli wrote: post #33
ohitsdom wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there are a lot of ways you can help out the "look at my code now" guy. Even a simple "give me a few minutes to finish up what I'm working on" could go a long way. If you do it regularly enough, it should be a constant reminder to him that you have work too and he may start asking you to look "when you are free".

I'm not usually a guy that asks for a code review to be done directly by pinging the reviewers, but I've found on certain projects there are colleagues who will unfortunately _never_ review any diffs I have with them listed even as the sole reviewers until I ask them. This is unfortunate but means that I fall behind by however long I don't ask them to review my code for :( Others are great and I don't have to ping th…

Good point. I certainly have a long backlog of changes waiting for review from others. I suspect that's more of a flaw in my current job's review process though.

I do think there's plenty of room to ping colleagues with a "hey, don't forget about that code review" before you become the "stop what you're doing and look at my code" guy.

Re: Losing focus: Why tech is getting in the way of work

#37

Post by flurdy »

Good way to focus is to pair up.

If you sit with someone else you may still chit chat a bit but you are unlikely to check your email, twitter, HN etc as your conscience is likely to make you focus on the task you are both there for.

Like pomodoro technique it is important to still take breaks to check HN etc otherwise you go mad.

Re: Losing focus: Why tech is getting in the way of work

#38

Post by at-fates-hands »

The other option is what I'm running into in my current contract as a developer.

Work at a large healthcare company and they have everything locked down. And I mean EVERYTHING. No social media sites, no youtube, even 80% of the articles on HN are filtered out. Embedded videos? No way. Even a lot of images in the articles I read are filtered out as well.

On top of that? You have to agree to very strict email guidelines when you sign into your POP3 email accounts and oh yeah, the system automatically signs you out after 15 minutes. Not sure how many emails I've started and then look up and see the connection to my gmail account was terminated and I have to log back in to complete my email.

I won't even go into the lengthy process it took just to get Chrome installed on my laptop.

In a way, you have no option but to focus on work, they've effectively taken any and all distractions away from you, quite forcefully.

Re: Losing focus: Why tech is getting in the way of work

#39

Post by WalterSear »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #12

For me personally it's not so much incoming notifications that distract me, but my colleagues. We're a small team of iOS and Android developers (about seven people total), and there's an almost constant buzz of random activities about various subjects - 90% of which are not directly relevant to me, but sometimes they are. Plus I have a colleague that Demands I Look At His Code Now from time to time. On the one side I…

We use slack. When we want someone's attention, we send them a private message. It sits there until they are ready to deal with it, or they respond, setting up a time to meet.

Re: Losing focus: Why tech is getting in the way of work

#40

Post by juliangregorian »

wslh wrote: post #7
sasvari wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[..] I find it really hard not to be distracted by technology (social media) [..] How can we fight this trend? There is an obvious solution for at least part of the problem, isn't there?

> There is an obvious solution for at least part of the problem, isn't there? Not without spending a lot of time configuring applications. Now I find Android more difficult to configure than Windows Advanced Server. For example, in the past Twitter only notified you about tweets for you, then they started to play with the discovery stuff and send you all kind of tweets that may interested you. Sure, I can go to the c…

I have 2 user accounts on my computer for that reason: my normal, fucking-around, games, social media, etc. account and my "get work done" account. FWIW, I am posting this from my fucking-around account.
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