Dear team,<p>Latest research indicates that interruptions are a major distraction and cause of stress in the modern distributed workplace.<p>In keeping with our ongoing focus on the wellbeing of our staff, and in order to improve morale and productivity, these new policies are therefore in full effect starting immediately:<p>- Emails are to be checked and sent only during three half-hour periods each day: 8am, 1pm, and 4pm. This will prevent interruptions and maximise your focus.<p>- Instant Messaging (via teams AND slack) must be reserved only for urgent blockers. We are monitoring activity for the time being, continued "noisy" chatter on these channels may lead to further policy improvements.<p>- Phone calls and videoconferences require a clear, written agenda and are to be scheduled via email as per the thrice-daily email periods. All outcomes to be clearly documented in CRM, wiki, or task board as relevant. Email your project manager if you're uncertain on these processes.<p>- All such activities are to be logged against billable projects where relevant. Any non-billable communications are to be logged under "Focus Improvement - Internal"<p>Over time we will build up a clearer picture of focus, interruptions, and productivity, so our standard timekeeping policies remain in effect. Please submit all time entries immediately upon completion of any activity so that we can effectively track and manage these improvements.<p>And don't forget, our team virtual fitness challenge shirts are being ordered on Friday so don't forget to fill out the spreadsheet with your preferences and remember to hit up the donations page - it's for a great cause!<p>Love,<p>Management
The notion that loneliness is the biggest distraction is a revelation to me. I have worked from home for 12years but didn't recognise this as an issue I face until now.<p>Sometimes I just crave talking with someone about what I am working on. If I am designing something I can't just call the people that do fabrication on my team because they are busy working on the last thing I designed. We're so asynch and efficient that I hardly ever talk with anyone about my task at hand so I spend a lot of time staring at the wall above my screen, second-guessing myself because I can't thrash out decisions with another mind.<p>Then I end up browsing HN for a distracting but familiar endorphin hit....
I wouldn't read too much into it because frankly it's just written to get Dropbox some SEO traffic when people search for these things, and maybe some of them will start using it.<p>Best marketing is invisible, sadly this isn't.
This assumes that without distractions, people can do focused work for the whole workday; I for one can't, I need a distraction every once in a while. At most I can do two hours of uninterrupted work, then my ass cheeks hurt and I need to get up and move around.<p>I am starting to think of changing jobs again to something that involves more cooperation with others. Not too much of course.
When I started in this business I had my own office. I could close the door or leave it open which was a sign of my availability. Me or any of my colleagues were free to roam the halls and decompress or bounce ideas off any one else with open doors. Also, we had common areas we could congregate to.<p>This environment was orders of magnitude less distracting than the modern open floor plan sweat shop. It was also significantly less distracting than working from home but I think that's because "productivity" tools like Slack didn't exist yet.
I think a lot of this holds true. Our team experimented with what would happen if we stopped having meetings and sending emails, a hard shift into asynchronous working. It was really useful for helping us find the middle ground, what worked well, rather than stringently requiring everyone to work that way for ever. For example, we found that having meeting-free days really helped people focus on important tasks, getting more done.
I've been working on a side project to help teams focus - <a href="https://www.indiehackers.com/product/our-time-to-think" rel="nofollow">https://www.indiehackers.com/product/our-time-to-think</a> - It's surprisingly hard to find people who actually want to not be distracted.