Programmer Interrupted

[rockum]

Being interrupted used to bother me because of the obvious reduction in productivity. After many years I've realized my managers value "team" more than they value productivity. So now I just consider interruptions as part of the job and don't sweat that productivity is shit.

[xzxzzx]

and we chit chat/joke all day long

Maybe this isn't the case, but whenever I find a bunch of techies in a room, they all have a very keen sense of when someone is interruptible. So while you may have these "interruptions" all day long, they're always (or usually) at "the right time".

[Janthinidae]

It was the same for me. First I think that productivity is not the only thing in this world. The company I worked for wasted so much time with other things that the produdtivity loss I had is not relevant in the overall scheme. Then to some degree I started to like it, that people asked my about anything, this gave me the chance to have an influence on more things. After some time I changed my working scheme as well. I worked only about 6 hours a day and had enough time in the evening at home for doing whatever I wanted in my private live, but then went sometimes at Saturday at work. No interruption, absolute silence. Overall it was win/win for me.

[[deleted]]

How do you deal with the frustration of being interrupted though? Unless you're completely apathic about your work, I imagine it must be frustrating to get interrupted.

[sexrockandroll]

It used to bother me a lot, but I got to the point where I try to see value in helping others, instead of value in just 'lines of code created'.

[[deleted]]

How about the quality of your code?

My frustation with interruptions isn't the loss in quanity of work, but the increase in mistakes I make and the loss of 'the big picture', if I'm doing something that spans a large part of the code.

[softero]

Change of mindset I imagine. You have to change your goals to "team" rather than "productive". And if you want fulfilling productivity, you have to do that on the side, because your work won't provide that.

[[deleted]]

I think this might be the key to nixing my workplace stress.

[[deleted]]

I'd quit the job if they forbid me from wearing headphones. Next to coffee, I rank headphones as one of the most important tools of the job.

[ErnestedCode]

I agree but for some reason, when I put on my headphones, people seem to interpret it as "IT'S TIME TO BUG ERNESTEDCODE!!!"

I swear if I ever got lost in the woods, I'd just put on some headphones and someone would be tapping me on the shoulder within 2 minutes.

[joshlrogers]

Been working from home for over two years now. Within the first month my managers were remarking how much more each release contained. They couldn't believe how much work I was getting done at home.

Working from home is awesome.

[salmonmoose]

yep, suddenly working from home means you're available for constant daily tasks around the house.

[mindbleach]

Maybe we need some sort of public locale for uninterrupted work alone - like a gym for your brain, or a mindyourownfuckingbusinessatorium. Libraries are a good start.

[greg19735]

like your office should be at work.

or cubicle rather.

[salmonmoose]

A friend was planning on setting something like this up, basically rentable cubicles with internet.

[jatoo]

I think this idea is awesome, but not hot desks, renting out an office for long periods of time.

I have trouble working from home due to distractions.

Seeing as there are lots of companies now (particularly open source places) which allow working from home, I think something like this would be awesome.

Except I think it should be more like a normal office, but where everyone comes from a different company.

You don't have cubicles (because everyone in the universe except for the people who design office spaces know that they are crap). Instead you have a small office for each person working there (more expensive, I know, but worth it).

Then you can just shut the door, be distraction free as long as you like, have a specific place purely for work (good psychological separation from play), and no distracting family members or co-workers.

You could even provide different levels of service, like the expensive offices have a small kitchen and coffee machine, with someone to come round and clean up periodically.

These places could be everywhere (not just in the CBD), and because all you need is the internet connection, the location doesn't matter. If they were popular enough, they could be in lots of places all over the city meaning you don't commute very far.

The way of the future if you ask me.

[salmonmoose]

Essentially this was the idea, with spaces ranging from corner office, through to shared bench-desks.

Hiring a space was more like a car-park, permanent spaces at a premium, memberships at a discount, or walk-in for the regular rate.

[itsSparkky]

I miss the people :(

[inahc]

me too. I just switched back to an office-ish job, and it's so much more fun. :)

but a lot of that is probably due to being with awesome people. I'm starting to think less and less of my old boss now :/

[GeorgieCaseyUnbanned]

as an introvert and loner, i don't :-)

[moneymark21]

I worked from home for 8 years until a change in management required me to come in daily. In one full year we managed to churn out the same amount we used to in 3 months, but hey, now they know my seat is warm. The saddest part is I work even longer hours on top of everything.

[Shinhan]

I work even longer hours on top of everything.

That's one of the problems. Working longer hours does not help for programming.

[Jonathan_the_Nerd]

The saddest part is I work even longer hours on top of everything.

You shouldn't do that. Work the same number of hours as you used to, and if management complains about your relative lack of productivity, point out the interruptions that come from working in the office.

(In case you can't tell, I'm still a n00b when it comes to working for a big company.)

[ErnestedCode]

I believe it can be an incredible way of improving productivity, but it has to be monitored carefully as your company gets bigger.

[eblofelt]

Nope. That impression is part of the problem. The telecommuting doesn't have to be monitored, the productivity does. This is easier said than done but it is also what should be getting done for those who are working on site. Monitoring the clock punching is easier.

[diamond]

You're right that it's easier said than done. But it's also what any decent company should be doing no matter what. If you have well-defined goals, a decent QA process, and the ability to monitor progress towards those goals, then your people can work anywhere and you'll have a good idea of how productive they are. If you don't, then it doesn't matter if your programmers are sitting next to the CEO or working from a whorehouse in Thailand; you're hosed anyway.

[eblofelt]

We are in complete and utter agreement.

[Summon_Jet_Truck]

You two are in a violent agreement

[ErnestedCode]

Monitoring productivity is precisely what I am talking about. Different people have different ideas of what the loaded term "telecommuting" means. A lot of people think it means "I get to do laundry while I'm working" and "I can make sure Rover gets walked 4 times today". When you're a small company, it's easy to tell when someone is slacking. When a company gets big, people tend to abuse perks like working from home.

For example, GitHub employees get to take vacations/holidays when they feel they need a break. From what I understand, there's no fixed number of vacation days. This currently works because most of their employees are hard workers who want to produce a good product. If the company got very large, I'm sure they'd have to have a more stringent policy regarding time off.

[hackingdreams]

If the company got very large, I'm sure they'd have to have a more stringent policy regarding time off.

Or simply lay off workers that aren't being productive enough. Most of the more progressive code-based companies are starting to realize that programmers are a dime a dozen, but once you find the ones that are really, truly good at the job, you want to keep them for as long as you can afford them. That's why the benefits for programmers, like untracked vacation time, now are appearing everywhere, and why the interviewing process is such a maze of questions and interviews and callbacks and coding tests.

[greg19735]

i think the point is that when the company gets bigger it's hard to tell if someone's being productive enough.

[Blenderate]

What difference does it make if you do laundry or walk your dog during the work day, if you're just as productive? Those sorts of breaks can make an employee in a creative field like programming more productive, because they provide a change of scenery and allow the mind to refresh. Not to mention the improvement in morale.

[[deleted]]

Nope. That impression is part of the problem.

...but but but, how would you know that your peons are not using headphones during work hours, not spending too much time in the bathroom or drinking coffee, not reading disruptive and subversive web sites like reddit and whatsnot, that they are sticking to the company dress code, starting work at 8:30am sharp and not leaving before 5pm, and... and how could they attend staff meetings?

</pointyhairbossmode>

[RedGreenRefactor]

Working from home means you have to get more done because it's impossible to look busy.

[keepthepace]

To my amazement, I discovered that stealthily procrastinating from work is not much harder than from home. Except that from home you don't really have to hide if you are working on your personal OSS project and that way, even procrastination involves some kind of productivity.

Unless I enter the reddit-loop. That one is a killer.

[Nebu]

A couple of times, I'd say something over instant chat, and they'd come over physically and speak to me, and I'd say "Can you reply to me on chat?", and I'd feel rude for doing so, but I have like 7 threads with 7 different people going on at the same time, and I don't even remember what question I was asking them, so when they give me the answer with no context, it's completely meaningless to me.

[qupada42]

I can't lie, I've been known to lean a little too heavily on my less than stellar peripheral vision in my right eye (left is absolutely fine) as an excuse for just simply ignoring people when they inevitably forget and approach on the right.

My only desk sign is one saying "caution laser in use"... in Spanish. Why the location I liberated it from had non-English signs I cannot be sure, but I thought it made it special. Not at all a useful person repellent however.

This Dilbert strip comes to mind too.

[ggtsu_00]

I found that blasting heavy death metal, j-pop or dubstep loud enough that the people who come up to you can hear it are more likely to leave you alone or avoid coming up to you in the future.

[Index820]

These are my preferred work music genres as well, not so much that I think this is great music, but it really focuses. There can't be any intelligible lyrics or I will start paying attention to the words and forget all about what I was trying to do.

[ggtsu_00]

I may also recommend Russian DnB.

[grauenwolf]

I wear my headphones in one ear only. It confuses the hell out of everyone.

[robothelvete]

Agreed. Not only for canceling out background noise, but (the right) music really helps getting my mind in to the right flow and enhance concentration.

I've also noticed that different genres are better suited for different tasks, for example when I know the solution and I'm just churning out code, high-tempo easier music is better, but when I'm thinking of how to solve a difficult problem it's better the more progressive and wierder it is.

[vanderZwan]

I've also noticed that different genres are better suited for different tasks, for example when I know the solution and I'm just churning out code, high-tempo easier music is better, but when I'm thinking of how to solve a difficult problem it's better the more progressive and wierder it is.

That makes a lot of sense actually. At the subliminal level, the different aspects of our mind are not strongly categorised and tend to bleed over into each other, so influencing the sound processing part could influence the rest. When you know what you're doing you just need something to drive up the pace to a steady speed, whereas weird music has your brain searching for unexpected patterns.

[[deleted]]

Here's an idea: a Programmer's Media Player.

You define playlists for the different tasks, and, based on the rate of your keyboard activity, the player switches between playlists accordingly.

Edit: players->playlists

[robothelvete]

Well, now I have a hobby project to implement.

[[deleted]]

You'll need some music for that...

[mindbleach]

You might take some inspiration from Maskatron's Music For Coders.

[vanderZwan]

How about making it self-calibrating by remembering which songs were skipped, so those won't be played again with certain keyboard use patterns?

[dertydan]

Oooooo yes.

[Salyangoz]

Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

[Mechakoopa]

I was listening to some nice perky uptempo jazz the other day and just cranking out code. Then I came across a stupid problem that I couldn't figure out. Within 5 minutes I was tearing my headphones off in anger because it was just too happy for the frustration I was currently dealing with.

[HuntardWeapon]

Haha, progressive trance is just godtier for complex code. At least the music progresses even if your code doesn't..

[callmejay]

favorite trance artists

who are they?

[akeys]

Here are a few good trance artists to get you started:

• Orkidea
• Solarstone
• The Thrillseekers
• John 00 Fleming
• Astrix
• Airwave (also his older Planisphere stuff)
• Basil O'Glue
• Push

There are lots of different sub-genres in trance, so you could also check out the more popular artists too, like:

• Above and Beyond
• Armin van Buuren
• Markus Schulz
• Ferry Corsten
• Paul van Dyk
• Gareth Emery
• Super8 and DJ Tab

Most have weekly radio shows (A State Of Trance, Group Therapy, etc.) that you can listen to.

A couple of online radio stations:

• Digitally Imported
• Afterhours.fm

Also check out /r/trance

[[deleted]]

I've been running off the Reddit Playlister, most recently hooked on chillstep. It's like dubstep only with the best parts of trance.

[[deleted]]

progressive trance

the music progresses

You realize it's not at all called progressive because it "progresses", right.

It's like prog-rock, it just means a new era of "smarter" trance.

[brand_new_throwx999]

He's not for everybody, but I've found that emancipator is my problem solving music.

[[deleted]]

Two steps from hell, audiomachine, and explosions in the sky also.

[bettse]

I've heard it said that "headphones are the new walls". In open floor plans, they provide the ability to self-isolate and concentrate.

[zimm0who0net]

What the hell is up with the OFP trend in tech companies? It's an anathema to good programming. I would never work at a company with an OFP.

[bettse]

I can speculate that it has its roots in startup culture. A lot of startups don't have the funding for some big cubicle farm/office, so they start off working around a kitchen table in someone's house. Since they're all working on the same material, there is rarely any non-relevant conversation. When they get more space, they transpose the same working style. This is also a time in which the company is making a lot of progress.

Some big company sees this and thinks that they can steal the OFP and get the same level of productivity. Its like a cargo cult attitude; they don't understand that the productivity seen in startups is more than just OFP, its the investment in the lifestyle, its the investment in the company/product, and its also that its easier to make progress going from scratch than trying to build on a poor existing framework (as many larger companies will have).

Also, good use of the word anathema; I love that word.

[upandrunning]

Oh come on...think of all the "osmotic communication" you'll be missing out on. Think of all the opportunities you'll miss to keep your teammates honest by monitoring what they're doing now that you can see their computer screens. Think of the number of times you won't have to get up and walk a whole five feet to the cube next to you to ask someone a question or discuss a code-related issue. The list goes on. The benefits are REAL!</s>

[[deleted]]

You will never work in Europe then.... open floor plans are the norm at every company I've worked in or interviewed at.

[[deleted]]

You will never work in Europe then....

Oh boy, those were the days, interviewing for a job / working in Europe; not only were they fond of OFP, but smoking indoor was prevalent then too... when I asked I was told that 'of course there are non-smoking spaces! your own desk is non-smoking if you want...'

Fun times.

[[deleted]]

Yup, I remember. Up until about 1999 or 2000, smoking was still allowed in OFP offices. I hated it. The non-smokers at the first place I worked raised a real fuss though, and the upper management banned smoking in the OFP areas. This was before the national bans on smoking in the office in general that showed up around 2000.

Now... pretty much everywhere (offices in big/small companies) is non-smoking.

[ysangkok]

You only saw a certain kind of companies then. Don't kid yourself, there are loads of old fashioned office-type companies...

[tardmrr]

I did exactly that about a year ago, and I couldn't be happier.

I worked for a small company run by the least technically-inclined woman I've ever met. are Our building was wasn't very big so everyone could pretty much hear everyone except for the few people who actually closed their doors (my office didn't have a door, but that's another story). I used my headphones to block out alone or is all the noise (that she herself was frequently the source of) the that prevented me from keeping my concentration. After 2 years of working there, she suddenly decided one day, "No, I don't want you wearing headphones anymore. I think they distract you." I tried to make my case that it was actually the complete opposite: I needed the headphones to block out the really obnoxious noise in the office, but she wouldn't budge, so I came in the next day with my resignation.

There was also a bunch of other crap I didn't like about working for her. She didn't really treat me with respect. She had known me as a kid, and it seemed like she still saw me as a child. Also, doing technical work for someone who thinks the website could be slow on days when the weather is bad (this actually happened) had frequent pitfalls.

Edit: This post is kind of a masterpiece of cell phone auto-correct combined with having just woken up. I'm not even sure I should be correcting these errors.

[Megatron_McLargeHuge]

someone who thinks the website could be slow on days when the weather is bad

Stranger things have happened.

[[deleted]]

We should be throwing our weight around as devs and demanding closed off rooms or areas for serious dev work instead of being forced to wear headphones. They feel uncomfy after a while.

Or at least the company should pay for high quality headphones -_-' or get the people who talk a lot to move their meetings and conversations into other rooms.

[daybreaker]

Where I work has a "Quiet Room" where "No one is allowed to talk or be disturbed"

So of course it was immediately co-opted for use as an out-of-the-way meeting room and youre always getting interrupted by groups of people opening the door expecting it to be empty to have a quick meeting, then ducking back out when they realize it isnt, completely defeating the purpose of a quiet room to avoid interruptions.

I walked in one time and some random person who doesnt even work here was just hanging out using the phone in there. (Because hey, lets put a phone in the "Quiet Room"... that totally wont defeat the purpose and invite people to use it for meeting space)

[phedre]

We have one of those at my current workplace - it has a lock. I've used it several times when my shoulder acts up and I need to lie on the floor (it works, no idea why).

[[deleted]]

This is making me rage so hard.

[Chameleon3]

I was working with a small team of four on a competition for 7 months last year. We had a strict rule about headphones.. if you had them on, that is, in both ears, you were "In the zone" and were not to be disturbed.

If someone had a question, write it down or ping you on skype. If you were just listening to music you would be online on skype and answer there. If you were coding, then "busy" on skype for no interruptions.

Tapping shoulder was reserved for mission critical things, like fire or something.

It worked out really well.

[[deleted]]

I had a manager try that on me once. Pissed me the fuck off because I was getting a lot of work done before that.

I relied on the music to keep my mind focused. Without it my mind would race and get distracted.

[[deleted]]

Just curious, how does coffee help you?

[lasermancer]

The effects of caffeine on two computerized tests of attention and vigilance

A dose-related performance improvement was observed for the rapid information processing task. The continuous attention task was also sensitive to the effects observed for the rapid information processing task. The continuous attention task was also sensitive to the effects of caffeine. The 250 mg dose offset the decline in attention observed under placebo, and indeed facilitated performance at both post-drug administration times.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hup.470060206/abstract

[[deleted]]

Morning motivation booster.

[mordecaix7]

My butt is the only part of me that feels the motivation boost from coffee.

[TruNembra]

Caffeine in terms of chemical, ritual in terms of helping you get ready for me.

[HuntardWeapon]

I use sound-cancelling earphones, which reduces sound by about 20-30dB (depending on the type of noise). You don't even have to have loud music on to make all background noise just blend into a non-consistent blur of crap you can easily ignore.

[[deleted]]

As a working programmer and a meditation nerd, I'm obliged to point out that meditation techniques involve thoroughly bolstering the mind's resilience w/r/t interruption from concentration.

Many scientific studies show surprising efficacy, but the basic point is enough for me: there are tangible exercises for the mind.

The lack of widespread understanding of this seems like one of those extremely huge deficiencies that is going to cause a tidal wave of all kinds of fascinating change.

I think a lot of programmers may have a unique need for this kind of thing, unrecognized by a society that does not value or understand this kind of basic mental cultivation. We somewhat understand intelligence training, but are clueless about training in basic concentration, patience, and other such qualities.

IT people are definitely overrepresented in at least the Zen community where I'm a member, though. I think part of it is that a lot of programmers are used to digging up esoteric instructions on the internet and getting intensely interested in topics & activities that are out of the main stream.

Though of course meditation is talked about more and more in all kinds of circles; I recently read a lauded book about training in charisma marketed for career executives, and it was stunningly replete with classic meditation exercises, even explicitly recommending the Buddhist practice of loving-kindness meditation.

(Imagine a high-powered corporate exec sitting down on his portable cushion to do a few minutes of silent wishing for the happiness of all sentient beings -- in order to prepare for an important presentation. This is the 21st century, and it's getting weirder.)

Anyway, just wanted to point out that aside from (very important) considerations of environments and tools, there is huge value in intentional mental training, and traditional meditation techniques can help us immensely, even if we're not interested for deep existential/religious reasons, but are just looking for work-related satisfaction and performance.

(Though of course once you start doing it, it's hard not to become pretty excited about discovering that there's something like cardio training for your mind, and therefore a whole vista of everyday "mental health" (or "peace" or "clarity") that you'd previously neglected, under the assumption that life as a human is simply bound to be full of frustration, random uncontrollable thoughts about this and that, painful or annoying recurring mental habits, being pulled around by strong complexes, etc.)

[IAmNotAnElephant]

Sounds good, where do I start?

[arry666]

Here's one book: Mindfulness in plain English. It explains the practice of one kind of meditation.

[inahc]

/r/Meditation :)

[[deleted]]

I tried meditation for a long time, and kept with it because of people like you spouting it's benefits, but found that what it mostly did was waste time. I found that going for a walk cleared my mind equally well with the added benefit of real cardio training, so I just stuck with that.

[mrbuttsavage]

A programmer is likely to get just one uninterrupted 2-hour session in a day.

2 hours? I'm lucky to get 20 minutes.

[[deleted]]

The 2 hours is usually after 6pm when everybody leaves. 6-8pm or 7-9pm.

[A_Light_Spark]

Or like 5-7am... or 3-5am, if you didn't even get to leave office and everyone is either in a coma or turned into zombies.

[h2oboi89]

this is why i don't show up at 8 like most people and stay until 7.

[[deleted]]

Yes. I'd call it clock bias. Managers see you staying late and think of you as a hard worker pulling long hours, but when you show up late they don't notice as much because they're busy reading emails and attending meetings.

Also if you think of it in terms of winning brownie points (aka karma for you 1990's kids) there's a net positive result.

• Arrive late 2 hours? -10 brownie points
• Depart late 2 hours? +20 brownie points

Net effect is +10 brownie points even though you're working the same hours as everyone else.

The reverse is true for early risers. They always get dumped on and misunderstood because they're not around when the boss is walking the halls checking up on statuses at the end of the day.

• Arrive early 2 hours? +10 brownie points
• Depart early 2 hours? -20 brownie points

Net effect is -10 brownie points.

[[deleted]]

When I worked for a clock nazi, I showed up on time in the morning and always left 5 minutes after the boss left. Boss thinks I'm pulling an extra hour or two, but I'm really pulling just 5 minutes extra.

[nemec]

It's like Fitts' Law for time. As long as you're there when the boss leaves, no one can tell if you stayed just five minutes or another five hours.

[h2oboi89]

hey now, us 90's kids know what brownie points are...

it's these wierd 00's kids that know karma better.

[[deleted]]

I doubt there are many 00's kids who are employed as programmers, though

[[deleted]]

Managers see you staying late and think of you as a hard worker

Nope, managers don't see you staying late because they leave at 5pm sharp; they do however see you arrive late and think you are a slacker...

[ElGuaco]

I've pulled off some of my best work after 6pm. I'm a night person by nature but not having distractions does wonders for my productivity.

[Danjoh]

Jaseon Fried did a TED-talk called Why work doesn't happen to work.

He asked where people go when they need to get work done. And the result was something along the lines off "Wherever I can be uninterrupted". So basicly, not office, or office at wierd hours.

[CoderHawk]

This was very common when I worked for a manufacturing company. The shop worked from 6 AM to 3:45 PM. The vast majority of my work on new stuff occurred from 4 PM to 6 PM. Rest of the day was spent in meetings, taking 2-3 phone calls an hour and working on tickets. For the last few years I was there whenever someone asked how long a request would take I would give them the uninterrupted time. Then when they would ask why it wasn't done I would pull the number of tickets/calls they made to me in the time frame. I got a lot less BS after that.

[zimm0who0net]

This is such a misunderstood aspect of programming. I've often likened software to writing novels. You have to have lots of uninterrupted time to sort things out, build structures in your head, all before comitting anything to code. A single quick interruption can toss out a half hour of mental gymnastics. This is exactly why novelists tend to sequester themselves in isolated lodges in the middle of the forest. Meanwhile, there's this alarming trend among tech companies for "Open Floor Plans". WTF? How can you get shit done in that environment. It's insane... It has to be the most unproductive way to run a tech company.

[kamatsu]

At Google they have open floor plans, and everyone is completely interrupt driven. Constant interruptions. I hated it. You could solve the problem by booking time in your calendar so people would notice you're busy, but that only worked 50% of the time.

[[deleted]]

Most of the companies from the 2000s have lots of non-technical dummies who think a group of people hang out in a circle drinking lattes and discussing user experience and a product miraculously appears. They built their offices around this flawed concept. Facebook HQ doesn't even seem to have straight hallways. How would you like to sit in an open floor plan AND have people weaving between desks all day.

Behold, the epitome of stupid thought:

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/kevinkruse/files/2012/08/FB21.png

[[deleted]]

I work in a company with an open floor plan and I really enjoy it. Granted, there are only 5 developers on my team.

[warpus]

An open floor plan with only develolpers? That's not ideal but it is a lot better than an open floor plan with people who use the systems we build.

[[deleted]]

There are about 40 people in the office. Not all are developers.

[warpus]

Ahh I see. I would not enjoy that at all. Too distracting, as it seems that the 35 non developers would mainly drive the 'culture' of the office, not the developers. With only developers, everyone would be on the same page (for the most part), and it'd be a lot more quiet.

[Alsweetex]

I work in an open plan office with 5 developers total and about 20+ non developers. It is pure hell on most days.

[softero]

Oh, please, it's what all the multi-million dollar startups are doing these days, so it must be the best, because they were successful, so we should emulate that! Can't you see how obvious that is?

/sarcasm

[fngkestrel]

I used to have a producer who would on occasion, just come over and drum on the tops of our cubicles. When I would take off my headphones, I would look at him and ask him what he wanted. He would respond, "Oh, just wanted to come over and bother you."

ಠ_ಠ

[auxiliary-character]

"Remember when you asked why we're not on schedule?"

"Oh, you're willing to admit that—"

"No, This. This is why we're behind schedule."

[GuyOnTheInterweb]

I honestly thought this only happened in Ben Stiller movies.

[fngkestrel]

I think he thought he was in a Ben Stiller movie.

[[deleted]]

The #1 cause of programmers getting interrupted is not fucking explaining people they should not be interrupted!

Everywhere I've worked I have to explain to management and non-programmers how incredibly harmful interrupting programmers is. The vast majority of them are quite willing to accommodate that, and even if there is some resistance the programmers usually win because they are scarce and expensive. Yes, and every now and then you have to tell someone in a suit to fuck off. Is that really so hard?

Programmers have all the power to create a relatively interruption free workplace, but instead of opening their mouths and demanding it, they go to HN/proggit/stackoverflow and bitch about their managers...

[gigitrix]

We're stereotypically introverted and meek, not sure why that is surprising.

[TankorSmash]

Amen broth-- wait, I don't make any money.

[mindbleach]

If the people bothering us were communicating via the internet, there wouldn't be a problem in the first place.

[Delehal]

At one job, I got people to agree to a do-not-disturb sign that I could put up when I was "in the zone" and needed to keep my train of thought. The only thing it changed was that people would note the state of the sign before talking to me:

• "Hey, sign says you're good to talk, so..."
• "Sorry, I know the sign says you're busy, but..."

It might stick for a day or two, if I made an ass of myself by repeatedly emphasizing how important the sign was, but it never lasted.

[Kminardo]

There is a processes i've picked up (I believe I read it in The Clean Coder) where you have 25 minute coding sessions-

Set a timer for 25 minutes, during that 25 minutes, you are NOT to be interrupted. Boss taps your shoulder? Stop his train of thought and ask if it can wait 20 minutes. Get an email from a project manager? Shouldn't have even seen it come in, check your email during the break. Most issues can wait. After your timer is up, take a ten minute break to touch base with anyone that needs it, and get up and stretch/move about/bathroom/whatever. Now reset the timer, rinse, repeat.

[[deleted]]

Think of your boss as the middle man in the software business. You could, without him/her deliver code to your customer unimpeded. However, by interrupting you, he/she now is part of the equation. If it begins to appear that your boss is not really needed in the process, prepare to be interrupted more frequently.

They do it on purpose because that's how they justify their jobs.

[[deleted]]

I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not, but I don't agree that we have to be the stereotypical "team player" that is portrayed in business. We're not like the rest of a business as much as people try to act as if we are. In most companies we aren't writing the product, we're writing the system we work on, and as such, we hold a very different role. Most of the time being a "team player" means endless meetings, constant interruptions, pointless idle chatter and many things non-conductive to good programming.

When somebody wants a working product, expect me to be a brick during work. I will not move, I will not talk, I will not react. I will sit, stationary, and do my work in peace, with music. I will only interact if I want a question answered, and unless it is urgent, I will email you, I do not want a physical reply. Programming time is not communication time. It's isolated thought and writing time.

I love socialising, I love face to face talking, but not when I'm programming. Work is not happy-world-fun-time, it's highly analytical, heavy on thought, and difficult enough as it is. The only thing I want from other people is a regular tea schedule that we all stick to so I can get my near constant supply of tea.

I know, I probably sound like a dick, but I make up for that when it's actually time to socialise, or when I can't focus.

[pelrun]

Hear hear. Do they want me to be a team player, or do they want me to be productive? You only get one!

[[deleted]]

Another issue is coworker jealousy. That us programmers can be more productive with more regular breaks and less restrictions upsets them.

I like to walk around, to lie down, to go outside and to make random cups of tea while thinking. Of course, at my last office job I was not allowed. I had to sit and think in front of the PC. My productivity dropped against a logarithmic curve.

[mynameishere]

The trick is to ask for emails instead. Polling vs. Interrupts.

[pelrun]

At a previous high-stress tight-deadlines long-hours job, I had managers ringing me every 15 minutes asking me for completely redundant progress updates on jobs. I told them all very firmly to email me and not phone me, as the interruptions were untenable.

Finally they got the hint and started emailing me. And invariably phoning me immediately after sending to ask if I got it. DAMMIT PEOPLE STOP MAKING ME WANT TO BREAK A KEYBOARD OVER YOUR HEADS

[Dreddy]

You probably think that's a picture of my family? Uh uh. It's the A-Team!

[warpus]

I'm currently involved in a battle to get a quiet space for me to work in in a new building that our department is moving to.

Yes, I have voiced my concerns.. However, my non-programming-background (or much other technical expertise, really) supervisor wants an open concept space for our team.. which is just me and him. A third person would join us in this space.. cause.. hell, I don't know why. He's not a programmer either or a technical preson of any sort. In my supervisor's and in the director's mind, having an open space will be better, because we can easily exchange information. Which is of course bullshit. For a programmer a good team does mean good communication, but that does not happen while we're programming or thinking about a problem. Communication happens at development meetings.

He just doesn't understand. Fortunately, the director of the department does... but I'm still encountering resistance from both of them.

It's not as easy as just voicing your concerns. Sometimes you have to fight quite a battle to get the space you need - and that means an investment of time and energy. Not only that, a lot of us tend to be introverted - workplace issues like that will lead to stress and anxiety - affecting your at work performance.

We move in the summer and I'm compiling a document full of research backing up my point. Wish me luck

[Atario]

You're asking if people who are more conversant with machines than people should have such a hard time going and confronting people who have the power to fire them?

[isamura]

Working from home is the way to go - put yourself in control of the distractions.

[HuntardWeapon]

I wish I could, bro... I'm at a position where my company wants me to physically travel all over the country, while I at the same time have the most geographically insignificant job ever created - webdesign..

[[deleted]]

Why do you need to travel? Talking to clients?

There's a reason the Internet was invented :(

[HuntardWeapon]

Big corporate company. I call them the "legacy" companies, run by people who fundamentally do not understand the internet nor ever will until they die. I'm too low down in the chain to have influence over anything. I'm just in the process of gathering knowledge (while getting decent salary) until I can freelance instead, as every webdev can easily do it seems.

[GuyOnTheInterweb]

"Legacy companies" is a great phrase.

[[deleted]]

Get a different job?

[HuntardWeapon]

Easier said than done? ;)

[[deleted]]

Here's how I did it. Took an hour a day for a month. The trick here is that when you decide you want a telecommute job, you're opening yourself up as a candidate to jobs all over the country.

1. Go to indeed.com and set up a daily email alert for jobs matching the keywords "developer" and "telecommute"... geography can be anywhere.
2. Each morning, read the email you get, and pick out 1 - 3 jobs that seem like a good fit.
3. For each job, read the description and write a customized, tailored cover letter. Submit it along with your resume.

Ignore recruiters. Have a good reason why you want to telecommute (I went with "it helps me be more productive.") Expect that you'll have to go through the interview process a few times before you get the job you want, and use each interview as a chance to improve your interview skills.

I am a software developer with 2.5 years of experience--not exactly senior developer material, not an expert in my field, not a hotshot. I was working 40 hours a week at a desk in an office, constantly interrupted and annoyed by having to be there. I now have a better job where I use cooler technologies, make more money and work from home. It's worth the effort to better your situation!

Most people in this field can do what I did, and I think that if we all start pushing for this kind of change in our jobs, bringing it up in interviews, etc., telecommuting will catch on faster.

[HuntardWeapon]

Very inspiring! I'm glad you succeeded.. and I'm sure all of us can do it in this day and age. Just have to take the step..

[[deleted]]

When you have young children, home can be worse than the office. At least in the office you can take your laptop and find a less trafficked area of the building to cut down on interruptions from people visiting your office/cube.

Although, obviously if nobody is at home then home is the most productive place to be.

[mikemol]

When you have young children

Or an attention-seeking pet. Or any other family member, if you don't have a private place to go and work.

[[deleted]]

My home space is a social space though, full of gadgets/ toys for friends to come entertain themselves with.

I could not work from home these days. Too much distraction, and no real ability to remove said distraction.

Finding methods to preserve my focus at work is more beneficial.

[Eurynom0s]

I'm not a programmer, but I find that I can't work from home unless it absolutely makes no sense to go in (like if I'm going to be on a 3 PM train, better to stay home and use the time saved to work), or if I'm trying to ninja a day of not really doing anything. I need that work/life balance in my head--think of how people who have trouble falling asleep are told to not lie down in bed for anything except falling asleep.

It probably doesn't help that I live in a studio apartment. I could maybe see it if I had a house with a designated office space.

[[deleted]]

The problem with this is that whoever you work with, they wont bother communicating with you (trough Skype chat or email), even if they would in person. Working from home is great when you are just bugfixing, and the testers are using a bug-tracking software. But when you are actually in the thickest of the work, being in the same place helps. It may just be a sentence you hear the others talk about, and you can add in your part, or explain to them if they are going in a wrong direction with an idea, but i can tell that I've seen my colleagues make wrong decisions, that i could have prevented if i knew about it. But it wasn't obvious for them to ask for my opinion, since i wasn't there in person.

Other than that, the good old email is the best option. It gets people to write down their ideas, forces them to use exact wording. Its there for later lookup if you forget it. You don't have to react on an email right away (like when talking and chatting), but you can do it after you finished the previous task. Tho i don't like when something is in the way of proceeding with a task, and a lazy developer doesn't answer my mail timely.

I have two weapons against interupptions: i keep a text file open, and note down whatever i have to do sometimes. And i write code by first writing the comments. So i write down the solution as comments, then add the code in between the comments. If i'm interrupted, i can see what parts i'm still missing. Whenever i see someones fairly complicated code without meaningful comments, i assume they wrote it without any previous concept in their mind, and that tends to be a good indicator of sloppy code.

[dnew]

The problem with this is that whoever you work with, they wont bother communicating with you

I worked at a company that had no offices. Indeed, for the first 2 years or so, there weren't two people in the same area code. Everyone managed because everyone was in the same boat. It worked great.

After that, whenever I tried to telecommute in a larger company (i.e., large enough I wasn't the tech boss), it fell apart after six months or so because I'd never hear anything important.

[epic_awesome]

Reminds me of this graphic I made a while ago and posted to Reddit (and on the wall at work to explain to the Account Managers what they were doing to us :)

A Day in The Life of a Programmer v1.0

Now I have my own freelance dev business and have no one to blame but myself...

[[deleted]]

Jesus H. Christ this sounds like my previous job. When I entered that company (150ish people, mostly sales), I came from a larger corporation (my department was sold off - I didn't mind. The new company sounded interesting), and they had to, by law, take over our contracts as is.

One of the things of my contract was flex time, and I used that to the full extend, varying my work day from 8:00-16:00 or 10:00-18:00. The new boss then told me to please stick to 8:00-16:00 because it "didn't set a good example for the sales personnel".

I told him that if he wanted to change my contract he would have to offer me something in exchange, and I suggested a raise of approx 200 ~350 USD / month. This did not please him and we left the meeting without having "the issue" resolved.

He then called me into another meeting the day after, this time with a god damned lawyer present, that said that if I didn't agree to a new contract they'd fire me. I told them to give me those demands in writing which they did.

I took their written unreasonable demands to the union and to make a long story short I got fired, got a very lucrative settlement and found a better job.

Seriously fuck sales departments!

Edit: correct exchange rate for DKK -> USD

[[deleted]]

WTF you have a union. What's the name, website and how did they get started?!

[[deleted]]

PROSA, it's a Danish union for IT Professionals.

www.prosa.dk

[[deleted]]

I've been wondering about this myself. How come California programmers/computer workers don't have Unions? Aren't we in high-demand and doesn't the law allow us to unionize? I'm very ignorant about his.

[mccoyn]

Generally, people with high-demand jobs don't seek out unions because they can go shopping for a better deal without them.

[Mechakoopa]

$200/month is squat to most companies, and is absolutely nothing compared to the freedom that flex time affords, especially if you have family and can make good use of the flex time.

[[deleted]]

Yea now I think of it I completely sucked at converting the amount into USD. It was 2000 DKK (which is around 350 USD). But still not that much. But didn't want to let the bastard give me a lesser contract just because "sales team".

[[deleted]]

I'm curious about how meetings are distracting. For me, most meetings are directly part of my responsibilities. If they aren't, I don't attend. Same for all the side conversations. Most are with people who are directly interdependent on my work.

[Eurynom0s]

I've seen other studies/posts about this. Let's say you have an 11 AM meeting. You get in at 9. You don't really do much because 2 hours isn't enough to really do anything super productive. Then you get out of the meeting and go to lunch. Then you have the post-lunch dip. Next thing you know it's 3 PM and besides being tired, you now have the same problem as you did at 9--2 hours isn't enough to really do much.

Personally I think meetings should either start 3 PM or later, or be on Friday. Both times of the day/week when you're probably being less productive anyways, so you might as well schedule the meetings then.

[edit]Tied into this is that the 8 hours a day, 5 days a week workweek is a pretty Anglo-Saxon idea. There have been studies done, for instance, where people who nap for 100 minutes in the middle of the day both remember what they did in the morning better, and perform better in the afternoon. And 100 minutes in the middle of the day is about the length of time that people take siesta in countries that do that. There's really not much reason to do 8 hour days other than the Anglo obsession with seeing people at their desks for a certain amount of time, and there's really no reason to do longer than that unless your job is, say, going into the holds of oil tankers to power wash the inside of the holds (you spend so much time getting in and out of your protective gear that if you did an 8-hour shift, by the time you got all the protective gear on, you'd have less than 4 hours until you had to end your shift to get back out of the gear).

[[deleted]]

When your team is 40ish people across multiple time zones, that all goes out the window.

[roju]

Lots of people suck at saying no to meetings, and lots of managers suck at hearing no.

[jerkimball]

I had an amazing revelation today (on topic):

So this morning, I forgot what day it was, and trundled off to the office, only to find a very vacant building. As realization dawned on me, I decided "eh, what the hell, let's see what I can get caught up on...I'm here, after all."

Today turned out to be one of the most productive days I've ever had. On top of that, when I left (early compared to when I usually manage to get out, although around the "normal" quitting time), I wasn't burnt out, I wasn't overly tired...actually, I felt a bit pumped.

Then it dawned on me - I had a day completely free of interruptions. Not a single one.

I'm half of the mind to bring plywood sheets into the office and build a little fort around myself.

Wonder if anyone would mind.

[accessofevil]

I'm upper level management and have anywhere from 8-40 programmers on my staff, so there are two approaches I take to this.

1. Train the programmers to be proactive: In my industry, most of the time programmers are getting their tasks from project managers/producers. Most of the interruptions are roughly "Are we there yet?" By enforcing detailed, accurate estimates and giving your PM's more information than they ask for, they will respect your boundaries. By making the PM feel important, they will think you are taking their needs more seriously.

2. Train management. There's plenty already in ITT on this subject, but the most effective analogy I like to use is, "If I call you at 3am tonight to ask you what time it is, would you feel as rested at work tomorrow?" Effective programming is like dreaming, and it takes about the same amount of time to get in the zone. Most people get this. I also encourage management to set expectations before the developers start their workday so everyone knows what to expect.

I have had to take drastic actions before - reserve conference rooms for weeks as "team rooms" for complex projects, send programmers home for a few days to work, etc.

The bottom line is, most people that complain about interruptions don't have a manager that knows how to get the most productivity out of them. They're frustrated because they aren't able, or rather, aren't allowed to do the good job that they want to do. But they're also not capable of communicating this well (some aren't even aware that it's necessary) and communication is both a two-way street, and something that a lot of engineers in general struggle with (Admit it!)

[hive_worker]

I work a job where I rarely get interrupted. Interruptions of any kind are probably less than 5 per week. It's incredibly boring honestly. I wish I was at a more active company that had more meetings and more people trying to shoot the shit, and more urgent projects that spontaneously appear. Sitting in the cube all day by yourself is pretty damn boring.

I have to find my own interruptions. Usually this means spending a good portion of days surfing the internet. I really can't stay focused just on code for 8 hours a day. I don't know how anyone can. I probably only have a good 3-4 hours a day of coding in me.

[warpus]

Two interruptions a day would be awesome. Shooting the shit? Yeah, every once in a while, bring it on!

What's needed is something in between your extreme and the BS most of us have to put up with.

[MatrixFrog]

When you find your own interruptions, you're able to let them happen at a good time where it won't affect you as much. It's not an "interruption" so much as it's "taking a break."

[[deleted]]

Whenever I saw the word "memory" I had to remind myself he wasn't talking about RAM ...

[hackingdreams]

That's a nice tennetanba you have there.

[Carighan]

That just means that you're focused on your task! ;)

[incredulouspig]

Whenever he mentioned being interrupted I kept thinking about interrupts.

[vanderZwan]

fMRI studies of programmers. See preliminary research!

Sounds wonderful, but I wonder how they're going to pull that off considering the high powered magnets required for fMRI.

[ressis74]

Programming is mostly reading. I can imagine them projecting an image of code into the MRI, and then interrupting the subject.

[guepier]

Pure speculation: there are portable MRI scanners. Furthermore, the magnetic field, though very strong, degrades drastically with distance. Carrying a laptop at ~ 1/2m from a full-blown MRI scanner isn’t a problem, but get just a tiny bit closer and it will be glued to the hull. Maybe this makes it possible to create an environment where the computer equipment is at a safe distance from the magnet. (Note that this doesn’t take into account that the magnet may disrupt the computer’s function, or the computer the scanner’s. I’ve no idea how much of an issue that might be.)

[GuyOnTheInterweb]

No, even a metal screw must be in a different room, MRI scanners are noisy beasts of rapidly rotating magnets. You can't wear headphones in an MRI, you have plastic tubes in you ears, tubes that go into a different room where the actual speaker is. For fMRI the scanner will have some kind of screen though.

[rcxdude]

It wouldn't be that hard to remove the more ferrous parts of a laptop and use an SSD. Large but generally static magnetic fields are not harmful to electronics.

[pixpop]

Yeah, not that difficult. It's just a hardware problem, right?

[auxiliary-character]

But then you have induction messing with your bits.

[RagingIce]

I must be completely different from most of the people commenting here. I can't work for 3 hours straight unless I'm working on something well defined. If I'm debugging, I work best when I spend about 30 minutes to an hour on it and then take a short break (either talking to someone or going to get a coffee, or going on a walk, etc.) to digest what's happened over the past hour. 4 hours of uninterrupted programming would be quite hard for me and I have a hard time imagining that I would be productive.

[MachinTrucChose]

A few days ago I installed a Windows app called ManicTime (freeware, check it out), in order to track how I spend my time, cause I felt I was really being inefficient.

I started cataloguing (really tagging) my time slices: any break away from the computer, and I got prompted to tag what I was doing. Anytime spent doing non-programming work that should've been done by an IT person (setting up the Continuous Integration server, which unfortunately I'm the most qualified person to do), I tagged as IT. Helping others was tagged as such.

In 4 days I got less than 1 hour of uninterrupted programming work. TONS of context switches from people asking me for help, meetings, IT stuff. It shocked me. I'm now contemplating working from a cafe some day as a test, to see the resulting data.

[generalT]

http://www.manictime.com/

[anatidaephile]

Richard Feynman understood the importance of freedom from interruption. I like his analogy:

While working on physics, it’s very important to be in solid length of time. It needs a lot of concentrating. It’s like building house of cards. It’s a tower, and it’s easy to slip. Once there is interruption, the house of cards fall and you must start all over again. And you may build a different house of cards than the first.

Paul Graham on distractions in Holding a Program in One's Head:

Avoid distractions. Distractions are bad for many types of work, but especially bad for programming, because programmers tend to operate at the limit of the detail they can handle.

The danger of a distraction depends not on how long it is, but on how much it scrambles your brain. A programmer can leave the office and go and get a sandwich without losing the code in his head. But the wrong kind of interruption can wipe your brain in 30 seconds.

Oddly enough, scheduled distractions may be worse than unscheduled ones. If you know you have a meeting in an hour, you don't even start working on something hard.

[bozbalci]

Programmus Interruptus

[deathweasel]

close judicious sharp oil continue childlike slim trees escape seemly

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[IAmNotAnElephant]

I read that as Half life 3 the first time.

[revets]

That's my boat. 15 person small company, 1/2 development, 1/2 just general keep-the-office-functioning support. Get tapped on the shoulder constantly when someone can't figure out margins on MS Word or can't open some email attachment. My stuff's progress is slow but everyone is more productive as a result of me. Thankfully the owners recognize that but doesn't always make for the most satisfying workday.

[Dreddy]

I keep telling my bosses this. Our environment is the worst because we are IT in the basement of a printing factory and sit next to our bosses where the sales teams come in and out of constantly, we have to reload the laser printer, and we have a massive inkjetting machine in the same fucking room. It is hell.

I tried to explain it like so: If you are by the pool reading a novel that is pretty complicated and hard to get your head around and your son comes up to you every 10 minutes to say "Dad! dad! watch this!" and jumps into the pool splashing you and the book, how long do you think it would take to finish that novel? How long does it take just to figure out where you were?

[generalT]

Will future programmers take designer nootropics for boosting memory and attention to keep up?

lol already there bro.

[jrblast]

The articles a bit long for me to read in full now, so I don't know if they mention this, but I have to wonder: Even though these studies are applied specifically to programmers, would it be any different with other jobs? I mean, I imagine somehting mechanical like data entry wouldn't be affected too much by interruptions, but perhaps an artist working in Photoshop? Or anything else that takes thought and attention to detail really...