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Comment by stavros | Hacker News Reader

That seems like an easy fix: Tell visitors to look at the light.

That’s the problem: If the light is always on, or almost always on, then it quickly loses meaning.

Unless the user actually adds green available time at regular intervals throughout the day, people learn that they have to ignore the red busy light and ask.

Or the person is always busy, and to contact them a person should use slack, email or some other method.

And then they don't respond to email or slack. Are they missing it? Ignoring it? No one knows. Meanwhile, time sensitive deadlines come and go.

There's no clear, easy protocol that works for everyone, unfortunately. Some people are always going to operate on the 'better to ask forgiveness than permission' model. And I say this as someone who is often in the 'always busy' camp.

If it’s on the record then it would be simple to assign blame on them for the consequences… and then punish accordingly, so it seems like a self correcting issue?

Most employees probably have enough credibility to explain away one or two missed deadlines, but not 5 or 6 in a row without providing actual proof.

I dunno guys, I've become really, really used to the whole "wired in" protocol where if you have fully over-ear headphones on, it means you are either in heads-down coding or writing mode, or you are on a call. It works as long as everyone observes it. But maybe they don't and hence the demand for this product. It just adds another layer of complexity to office politics.

Sounds like a fast to way to get nicknamed “Larry” around the office.

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dont-make-me-tap-the-sign

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