A long time ago, I wrote about the effects of email on the human intellect. For those that never saw that post, in 2005, a study was commissioned by Hewlett Packard in Cambridge that concluded that email usage on a daily basis over a year’s span can retard one’s intellect as badly as frequent marijuana usage.
The effect is staggering: The average worker that attempts to handle incoming email, phone calls, text messages, and instant messages has his or her IQ drop by 10 points, greater than the 4 points that someone loses by smoking cannibis. (http://kurtsh.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!DA410C7F7E038D!753.entry)
Well, not much has changed since then. People are still constantly checking mail and worse yet, the emergence of desktop instant messaging, SMS text messaging, and mobile phones with the power of computers has scattered people’s attention even worse than before.
MORE EVIDENCE OF THE KEYS TO PEAK PRODUCTIVITY
An interesting paper was written for the IEEE publication that goes deeper into this topic. Productivity is under attack by the constant stream of interruptions that people have in today’s world. While this paper is written with a focus on the computer programmer it’s recommendations can ultimately can be applied to any profession.
Several suggestions are made on how to reduce the number of interruptions that one has:
- Disseminate information. Generate your own FAQ document, and get others to use it. I created an HTML page titled "README_if_SBJ_is_ Away" and placed it on an internal Web server. Given my use of the other techniques I’ve described, people tend to go to that page even when I’m not away.
- Educate your coworkers. Be sure to let people know not only how harmful interruptions are, but also which times are the best and worst for you to be disturbed.
- Communicate using e-mail. Rather than using the telephone or talking face to face, encourage people to contact you via e-mail. This lets you choose the best time to read and respond. E-mail also tends to be more succinct and less prone to vague, rambling interactions. Further, the extra work required to write an e-mail will filter out many interruptions; people will opt to read the manual or search the Web instead.
- Isolate yourself physically. If your office has a door, close it. If you’re not allowed to close it, use a signal of some kind—a sign or a hat over the doorknob—to let people know that they’re not welcome. Door-deprived cubicle occupants still have options such as moving partitions around or changing their orientation relative to the cube opening, especially if doing so reduces the number of passers-by that decide to drop in.
- Isolate yourself electronically. Get Caller ID and voice mail and use them. Resist the urge to pick up the telephone merely because it’s ringing. Disable e-mail notifiers. Wear headphones—even if you don’t listen to music. Force people to work hard to interrupt you.
- Deviate from normal work hours. Modifying your hours will let you do the things most sensitive to interruptions when others are not around. I suspect this is one reason so many programmers prefer to work odd hours. While the stereotype is to come in late—at the crack of noon—and leave very late, I personally prefer to arrive at the office early: typically 6:00 a.m.
- Remonstrate against interruptions. Practice forming a nasty scowl and use it whenever anyone comes into your workspace. Cultivate a reputation as a curmudgeon. If being nasty isn’t in keeping with your character, try a pained, exasperated look accompanied by a heavy sigh. Or, try rolling your eyes toward the heavens while muttering to emphasize your exasperation. If you’re interrupted to deal with something that is in your FAQ, be sure to let the person know, in some unsubtle manner, that you have been bothered needlessly.
This list is taken from an abridged version of the original paper. The abridged version is available here:
http://www.computer.org/portal/site/computer/menuitem.5d61c1d591162e4b0ef1bd108bcd45f3/index.jsp?&pName=computer_level1_article&TheCat=1015&path=computer/homepage/1106&file=profession.xml&xsl=article.xsl&
If you are interested in the complete article:
- DOWNLOAD: “Concerning Interruptions”, IEEE 2006 Unabridged Article
http://www.erudil.com/pdf/ieee2006-unabridged.pdf
kurtsh
Kurt Shintaku's Blog 