Comments on: Noticing the notice

By: LynzM

LynzM — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 04:59:08 +0000

I absolutely vote for ignoring people while the sign is up. So long as you continue to reward them by breaking your concentration when they interrupt, they’ll keep doing it. Train ‘em like dogs. Sign’s up, no talking. PERIOD. Sign’s down, you’ll talk. :)

By: B

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:26:37 +0000

i wish so hard that i could have even ten minutes a day where noone talked to me. i’ve resorted to staying way later than i’m supposed to do get some peace and quiet. my desk is in reception and even though we have a receptionist i’m constantly interrupted by phone calls, people asking questions, people talking to me. even when i’m not involved it interrupts my concentration.

i wish i didn’t care so much what people thought, or about helping people. i don’t like seeing people struggle when i know the answer to something, so i always jump in. i really should stop but it’s hard.

By: robram

robram — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:17:04 +0000

I think that you cultivate a sense of ‘openness’ of ‘fcuk-off-ness’ as an employee.

I find, unless I’m not actually at my desk, people will disturb me no matter what I’m wearing or displaying.

This doesn’t serve me well, when I’m desperately trying to write a report/brief.

I used to have a manager who, when I was on the phone, would jump and down in front of me pointing at his office, regardless of how important his request was.

Maybe a Harry Potter invisibility cloak is the way forward. Anyone know where I can get one of them?

By: meesteryan

meesteryan — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:48:00 +0000

if you find an answer please tell me, cos i am failing miserably at finding flow these days.

for now all I can think is to have your sign made up in perspex and have a light inside so it has a very definite “on” state.

By: Car People

Car People — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:23:59 +0000

In chapter 7 of his book ‘the four hour work week’ Tim Ferris has some great ideas. One great suggestion is:

Wear headphones and pretend to be on the phone. Pretend to interrupt your ‘phone call’ and respond “Hi invader. I’m right in the middle of something. How can I be of help?” if they can’t tell you in 30 seconds, ask them to send you an e-mail.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:55:20 +0000

I think you should add a subhead: please email me and I’ll ge back to you.
Maybe also put the sign on some kind of stand, so it looks more deliberately set to be “on”?

By: mac

mac — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:57:08 +0000

The sign is too passive aggressive and mildly comedic, people ignore passive aggressives signs no matter how nicely made. In fact they almost become a challenge.

I don’t think its a humanly possible thing to expect to be left alone in a an open plan office, go with the home/cafe/book a room when you need peace. Because you need to be out of that space, which is impossible to do just in your head, you need to physically move.

By: William T

William T — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 23:41:57 +0000

You need meeting tokens:

http://www.43folders.com/2007/10/19/meeting-tokens-scarcity

(Be thankful you’re not self-employed though. I’m so alone.)

By: nick s

nick s — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:02:02 +0000

Yeah, it might be worth trying well-publicised “office hours”, as done in American academia, where a particular time of the day is explicitly set aside for disturbance / interruption.

That may mean getting out of flow at certain times, or feel like giving in to the distraction brigade, but it implicitly defines the other hours as non-interruption time, and at least gives people the chance to take note of what an interruptible Meg looks like, so that they have some criteria for judging whether it’s appropriate to interrupt at other times.

By: Cait

Cait — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:50:23 +0000

Damn, I used coding brackets. I’ll repeat that with the correct English grammar:

I think “come back in (an hour) please” is pretty good, particularly if amended with “Come back in (an hour) when I can give you my attention, I can’t at the moment”.

Then, if you’re wearing headphones and working, you can do a damn good job of ignoring them and they won’t feel personally slighted.

By: Cait

Cait — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:49:14 +0000

I think “come back in please” is pretty good, particularly if amended with “Come back in in when I can give you my attention, I can’t at the moment”.

Then, if you’re wearing headphones and working, you can do a damn good job of ignoring them and they won’t feel personally slighted.

By: Arnold Daniels

Arnold Daniels — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:59:08 +0000

I listen to light piano music nowadays, works like a charm. I can recommend Ludovico Einaudi.

By: Arnold Daniels

Arnold Daniels — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:56:05 +0000

You probably need to take it on a personal level.

Maybe make a white bord sign with:
Thanks to _____________ I failed to make my deadline.

Place the name there of the person that’s interrupting you.

By: Chrislunch

Chrislunch — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:11:01 +0000

You need a privacy cape – most of the time it’s just a natty cape with whatever design you fashion on it, but once at your desk you can flip it over your head and monitor, revealing the interior lining, which is bright pink with DO NOT DISTURB on it in white Guardian font.

By: Dominic Cronin

Dominic Cronin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:54:11 +0000

I once had a boss who read PeopleWare and came back a week later with a bunch of hats that said “Flow” on the front. We laughed at this, but it did help, mostly because non-geeks didn’t get on to our floor much. Having said that, many of us were left with the feeling that this measure fell short of really respecting our needs. As someone else has commented, there’s an ancient invention that works very well to solve the problem. It’s called a door.

Open plan offices are the enemy. Ask for a private room, or one that you share with one colleague. A good employer should provide facilities that suit the kind of work being done, right? But of course, a private room equals boss-like status, so it’s probably too good for mere knowledge workers, eh?

As for headphones: music sucks out brain cycles too. White noise or purple noise can help if you learn to use it.