Ask HN: How do you stay focused and get s**t done?

4 points by romain_o 6 years ago | 7 comments

Over the last few months I've been analysing my coworkers' and my own behaviour at work. I quickly noticed the incredible number of (self) interruptions we encounter during a work day and how this affect our productivity, work quality and more importantly our stress-level. After researching online and reading couple of books I'm now convinced that distractions and interruptions are the root causes of many sufferings at the work place. So convinced that I am now building an app that mixes time management features, immersive soundscapes and distraction blocker to solve this. My question is - do you manage to stay focused at work? If yes how do you personally manage to block distractions and avoid (self)interruptions to do your best work?

Chyzwar 6 years ago |

When working I always maintain a portion of focus on main task. Even if someone interrupts me I can easily jump back. I can juggle multiple dev tasks by maintaining multiple clones of repos and a good setup.

Another important thing is to remove interruption you control. I only check email once per day, reject or "forgot" to attend meetings I deem not important. I gave up on some social aspects like small talk or water cooler chats. I would interrupt people if they get sidetracked too much.

I am doing very good as IC but I would never get promoted in current role.

In my opinion the biggest productivity killers in dev project:

  1. Special/overhyped architecture
  2. homemade tools and anachronism
  3. in house frameworks 
  4. Lack of testing
  5. Red tape and compliance

pwason 6 years ago |

Once you realize that your life is like a piece of string, with a beginning and an end, yet you never know where you are currently on that string, it's somewhat easier to focus. Bullshit tends to become more obvious and avoidable. If there's a lot of BS around, call out the people spewing it. Either they'll go away, and you'll get more done, or they'll fire you, and you'll get more done.

zapstar 6 years ago |

* Set up "office hours" where coworkers can come and ask you questions. Even if you don't actually have an office, this is just a set period of time that you've blocked off for people to visit you at your desk and receive assistance.

* Turn off notifications on Slack, e-mail, etc., and only check those things periodically throughout the day. If you're cruising on some new feature, don't switch over to Outlook. Keep cruising.

* Don't be afraid to say "sorry, I'm in the middle of working on this thing -- I will follow up with you later." You are the only protector of your time. Everyone else will steal as much as you allow them to steal.

* Wear headphones. People are less likely to interrupt when you wear them.

JMTQp8lwXL 6 years ago |

I stay focused and get things done by cultivating an environment that enables me to do so. I'd imagine the environment is different to every person. Within the context of working in any organization, there's only so much you can change. Consequently, creating that environment may or may not be possible within certain organizations. For example, speaking personally, but autonomy in my work keeps me motivated, focused, and delivering much more than I would otherwise.

romain_o 6 years ago | |

What does your environment look like? Any special tips?

rasengan 6 years ago |

Anyone that gets in the way of you reaching your goals is not your teammate.

romain_o 6 years ago | |

I believe there is also clearly a lack of education at the workplace (at least mine) on distractions and interruptions. I don't think people want to annoy me, it's just pure ignorance. Or maybe it's my responsibility to protect my attention and my time. Not theirs.