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Ask HN: How do you avoid people distracting you at work?

7 points by nastygibbon ↗ HN
I work as a developer at a large company in a large open office. We have many scrum teams and communication via Slack is normal. My coworkers frequently walk up to my desk to start conversations. I would like to encourage them to use Slack instead at certain times such as when I'm under pressure with a project but I'm not sure how to signal this to them. I have too many colleagues to simply ask them kindly not to distract me at certain times so asking the people around me not to distract me if I have headphones is ineffective.

Do you have any strategies signalling to your colleagues (many of whom you might not know) that you would prefer not to be distracted at certain times?

15 comments

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cimmanom
A lot of offices have a culture where headphones-on means "do not disturb" or "slack to see if it's ok before disturbing".

You don't even have to play music if you don't want to - just put a pair of cheap headphones on your head.

kreeWall
This is my advice too - I usually don't play music in my headphones, but then I can ignore people when they're talking to me for the first couple of seconds, and then i can look up and they have to start over. It's mean, but effective.
kleer001
I've tried and been unsuccessful. There's always that clueless employee that starts talking when my headphones are on. It may be a personal problem too, I really like helping.

actionable advice:

The adult: Use your words "I have my headphone on, that means please do not disturb." or make eye contact slowly shake your head 'no' It's especially difficult when the person is a repeat offender. But don't forget you would be helping not just yourself, but them AND all the people they might bother in the future. You might even need to go to your lead or supervisor or HR. Don't dismiss your need to get your work done. They're wasting your time and the company's money.

The easy: Don't respond. That's kinda a lame move, but oh well.

The difficult: Put a red light on your monitor. Turn it on when you're working, refuse to answer any questions until your done. Don't do this.

ledfrog
I have a few coworkers that don't get the whole "headphones on, he's busy" concept. In some cases, they just start talking as if the headphones aren't even there. Sometimes, I pretend I can't see them talking and then after a short time, I look up, remove the headphones and say, "Sorry, were you talking to me? I was focused on something."

They usually get the message and apologize, but I still don't get it. I mean, emergencies aside, send me an email, a text or any other notification you can think of and let me get back to you.

tedmiston
Sometimes I will take my headphones off and say, "Hey sorry, I'm deep into X right now — Can I grab you [in 10 min | when I'm done]?"
amirathi
Why don't you bring this up in your team/company meetings? If you are facing it then be assured that many others are also experiencing the same. It's impacting the productivity of your team. And it can't be solved in isolation.

Together you guys can decide what works best for your environment. It could be headphones, no-disturbance period or the opposite (office hours / collaboration period).

inertiatic
If you can communicate it to someone that manages your team, or the person that manages your manager, you should. They can make it clear that interruptions should only happen on a need to happen basis.

Otherwise, if you are in an environment where people higher up will not empathize and tell you that this just makes you guys more creative:

a) Look for another job b) In the meantime, print out a quirky message on a piece of paper, to appear friendlier, asking the potential interrupter whether what they need is urgent, and if it's not, to try hitting you on slack if you have your headphones on (or in general even). It should work.

twoquestions
To piggyback on what others have said, if you're in a certain type of company then interrupting you to talk is an important social status symbol. It's an implicit (and sometimes explicit) signal that their status is greater than yours, and your submission to them is more important than the value you create for the company.

If this is the case, I'd highly recommend finding a place that values your productivity.

paulcole
Isn't ignoring someone who wants your help showing that your status is greater than theirs?
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shanjacops
A lot of my colleagues dont use headphones, so it is kinda hard to send the message headphones == do not disturb. From the other side, I work in Germany, so I just need to say "Sorry, I am busy!" and continue to do my work. It works great, and I don't even feel bad about being rude or misinterpreted (which was something that used to stay in the back of my head after not helping a peer.)
jakobegger
Here‘s what I do: "Sorry I'm in the middle of something, can I get back to you later?"
clusmore
If headphones don't do the trick, and you want to stop people before they actually bother you, have you tried just putting a sign on your desk or the back of your chair that says not to bother you?