Just yell "I'm wired in!" and get back to it!
An app that lets you pretend to receive a call when a co-worker distracts you
41–50 of 68 posts
Re: An app that lets you pretend to receive a call when a co-worker distracts you
#42Just be honest and say "please don't think I'm being rude, but I really need to get on with this work." You can be assertive without lying or being nasty.
A small variation to this is to ask "Hey, sorry is it important?"
People tend not to think themselves or what they're doing as important for whatever reason.
It also sets the scene for future interactions. Oh and sometimes it really is important..
Re: An app that lets you pretend to receive a call when a co-worker distracts you
#43Related but with a different focus, Chelsea Handler made an app called "Gotta Go": https://gottago.io/ The process was detailed in one of her Netflix episodes IIRC.
Re: An app that lets you pretend to receive a call when a co-worker distracts you
#44False premise - a phone call should never be allowed to interrupt a real conversation.
Re: An app that lets you pretend to receive a call when a co-worker distracts you
#45False premise - a phone call should never be allowed to interrupt a real conversation.
Surely you don't mean never.
Re: An app that lets you pretend to receive a call when a co-worker distracts you
#46The problem of being distracted when coding was greatly reduced for me when we moved to Git from more ancient version control tools. With faster/easier committing and history browsing, I can now make smaller and more logically divided commits, and thus need to keep less context in my head at every single moment.
Re: An app that lets you pretend to receive a call when a co-worker distracts you
#47Just be honest and say "please don't think I'm being rude, but I really need to get on with this work." You can be assertive without lying or being nasty.
I think that would offend my British sensibilities. Unless delivered with a winning smile. It's amazing how much a smile can solve.
Re: An app that lets you pretend to receive a call when a co-worker distracts you
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's ideal and needs to be the first approach. In practice, people that communicate all day don't always understand than other jobs require uninterrupted focus. That's why engineers try things like no-meeting-wednesdays and schedule blocks for coding. I wouldn't use the tool in question, but I relate to the motivation.
if you need to use this tool, the uninterrupted focus is most likely already gone, damage done. it's even likely that the person will return once your call is done to interrupt you again.
or.... they'll learn that you prioritize answering calls over f2f, and they'll start calling you all the time. easier to 'avoid' to some degree, but you're just shifting the interruption.
Re: An app that lets you pretend to receive a call when a co-worker distracts you
#49I never understood why a telephone gets precedence over somebody who made the effort to come to you in person.
Because after 6 or 7 rings the person calling you will go away, while the person who has come to you will, usually, stand and wait.
I agree with the sentiment though, that it does often give the impression of being bad mannered.
Re: An app that lets you pretend to receive a call when a co-worker distracts you
#50Just be honest and say "please don't think I'm being rude, but I really need to get on with this work." You can be assertive without lying or being nasty.
That's ideal and needs to be the first approach. In practice, people that communicate all day don't always understand than other jobs require uninterrupted focus. That's why engineers try things like no-meeting-wednesdays and schedule blocks for coding. I wouldn't use the tool in question, but I relate to the motivation.
One thing often overlooked about work interruptions: interrupting one person's flow is usually to aid another's.
So as others have suggested the response can be prioritised according to importance and urgency.
While flow is critical for productive work, it should be directed to the highest priority tasks.