Read on Twitter
Programmers don't like to be interrupted.
Ever wonder why?
Well, the one-line answer is "Context switching is super hard!".
This pic from @LaTtEX explains it perfectly: ( http://twitpic.com/dj27dh )
Here is a thread on what is the big deal about interrupting programmers.
Ever wonder why?
Well, the one-line answer is "Context switching is super hard!".
This pic from @LaTtEX explains it perfectly: ( http://twitpic.com/dj27dh )
Here is a thread on what is the big deal about interrupting programmers.
1/n
Let's first talk about meetings
@paulg summarises this in his famous 2009 essay - http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html
"When you're operating on the maker's schedule, a single meeting can blow a whole afternoon, by breaking it into two pieces each too small to do anything hard in."
Let's first talk about meetings
@paulg summarises this in his famous 2009 essay - http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html
"When you're operating on the maker's schedule, a single meeting can blow a whole afternoon, by breaking it into two pieces each too small to do anything hard in."
2/n
To be precise, it is not always the meetings but the badly timed ones that are the culprit https://twitter.com/WhyArentUCoding/status/1360199246671196163
To be precise, it is not always the meetings but the badly timed ones that are the culprit https://twitter.com/WhyArentUCoding/status/1360199246671196163
3/n
So what do interruptions actually do?
@chrisparnin added more clarity on this topic in his 2013 blog - http://blog.ninlabs.com/2013/01/programmer-interrupted/
His key insights:
(a) A programmer takes between 10-15 minutes to start editing code after resuming work from an interruption.
So what do interruptions actually do?
@chrisparnin added more clarity on this topic in his 2013 blog - http://blog.ninlabs.com/2013/01/programmer-interrupted/
His key insights:
(a) A programmer takes between 10-15 minutes to start editing code after resuming work from an interruption.
4/n
(b) When interrupted during an edit of a method, only 10% of times did a programmer resume work in less than a minute.
(c) A programmer is likely to get just one uninterrupted 2-hour session in a day
(b) When interrupted during an edit of a method, only 10% of times did a programmer resume work in less than a minute.
(c) A programmer is likely to get just one uninterrupted 2-hour session in a day
5/n
He also talks about the costs of interruptions in office environments.
An interrupted task is estimated to take twice as long and contain twice as many errors as uninterrupted tasks.
Workers have to work in a fragmented state as 57% of the tasks are interrupted.
He also talks about the costs of interruptions in office environments.
An interrupted task is estimated to take twice as long and contain twice as many errors as uninterrupted tasks.
Workers have to work in a fragmented state as 57% of the tasks are interrupted.
6/n
And as @johncutlefish puts it -
the context switching problem can take up as much as 30% of an engineer's time if they are working on 2 different projects at the same time https://twitter.com/johncutlefish/status/1016363713719201792
And as @johncutlefish puts it -
the context switching problem can take up as much as 30% of an engineer's time if they are working on 2 different projects at the same time https://twitter.com/johncutlefish/status/1016363713719201792
7/n
So what can we do?
Different people have tried different approaches.
@david_perell says blocking off time for flow states in your calendar is the way to do it https://twitter.com/david_perell/status/1351893144162463744
So what can we do?
Different people have tried different approaches.
@david_perell says blocking off time for flow states in your calendar is the way to do it https://twitter.com/david_perell/status/1351893144162463744
8/n
@phil_wade suggests making others more aware is the way to go https://twitter.com/phil_wade/status/896010517617180672
@phil_wade suggests making others more aware is the way to go https://twitter.com/phil_wade/status/896010517617180672
9/n
@AmandaMGoetz says "I'd rather work at 100% for 4 hours than 50% for 8" https://twitter.com/AmandaMGoetz/status/1372980576857251844
@AmandaMGoetz says "I'd rather work at 100% for 4 hours than 50% for 8" https://twitter.com/AmandaMGoetz/status/1372980576857251844
10/n
But every now and then we encounter some super-humans and we get perplexed!
https://twitter.com/kunalb11/status/1359948968747126784
But every now and then we encounter some super-humans and we get perplexed!
https://twitter.com/kunalb11/status/1359948968747126784
11/n
But seems like they don't like context switching either! https://twitter.com/andrewchen/status/1356133905884086274
But seems like they don't like context switching either! https://twitter.com/andrewchen/status/1356133905884086274
