And the phone rings, or someone taps on your door or your cubicle wall.
Whoops.
Even if their question or problem is quick, they've broken your concentration. You not only don't have that lovely feeling of flow any more, but you can't even remember what you were about to do next.
Not much fun. And it's also not much fun to think about how many times you've done that to someone else! Even with the best of intentions, it's really hard not to interrupt people, especially when you're totally stuck with a problem that has to be solved somehow. You probably know the polite way of doing it ("'Scuse me, do you have a minute, or should I come back later?"), but that doesn't always prevent the interruption-damage from being done.
A long time ago, back in my corporate "geekdom" days (I was a software engineer for many years, and a project manager/program manager/technical department manager for a lot of years after that), I read a number of wonderful geeky technical books. My favorite technique for keeping these types of interruptions to a minimum comes from one of those books. The book itself is long gone from my shelves and my memory, but the story remains.
It seems that a successful software organization had a rule in its technical support area. (You know tech support. That's those people we love to hate when we have to call them to resolve problems with something on our computers. Of course, in reality most of them are hard-working people who truly want to help, hard as that may be to remember when your computer has gremlins.)
None of their support analysts were allowed to interrupt anyone else, no matter how hard the problem was they were working on, and no matter how stuck they felt, UNTIL ...
Until they went to the cubicle of the Tech Support Teddy Bear, and explained the problem in detail to Teddy.
How many times have you explained a problem to someone, and suddenly the light bulb went on - BLINK - and you knew the answer?
So next time you think you need help with something, even if you're sure you're completely stuck, try explaining it to Teddy first. Or your cat, or dog, or even the African violet on your desk - though it helps if whatever it is has eyes (even plastic ones!) that you can look into while you're talking.
There are three keys to making this work.
- It has to be a true problem, not a lack of resources. If you're missing a piece of equipment, for instance, or there's some skill or information you don't have, this won't work. In the case of missing information, though, you might want to give it a try. You may find you know more than you think.
- You must explain the problem in detail, just as you would explain it to a real person. If you don't go into the details, your brain can't hear them, and your thoughts will just spin around in the same rut they're already in.
- Finally, you have to take the process seriously. If you treat it as a joke, you won't be paying attention, and your brain won't engage.
The next time someone interrupts you, give them a copy of this article and ask them to come back after they've told Teddy their problem. In fact, you could even put your very own Teddy Bear in the entrance to your office or cubicle, holding a copy of this article.
"Exit, pursued by a bear." Stage direction from "The Winter's Tale," William Shakespeare, English playwright and poet, 1564 - 1616
