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Comment by therealidiot | Hacker News Reader

I wish I was able to just 'lock myself away' and finish a task... I just can't seem to go 5 minutes without someone disturbing me with some weird issue, or something that they could simply have searched online and had an answer instantly

headphones just don't seem to be a strong enough do-not-disturb indicator

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Agreed, as a go-to guy in the office, I often feel the same way.

One thing I've noticed is that even if people don't actually interrupt me, the expectation that they might at any minute prevents me from fully concentrating on the task. Having some sign to indicate that for the next, say, 30m I should not be interrupted, and having people respect that, would probably help significantly.

On the other hand, the fact that people are constantly needing me is partially my fault, since there's stuff I could empower them to do by themselves with a little automation.

I was having trouble with the headphones not being a clear enough signal so I took a 3'x4' black foam posterboard and made a cubicle door. It caused a stir but mostly just in the people who liked to come by and ask me if I'd opened the cat gif they'd just emailed. Having the door closed is a nice clear signal and so far it's worked fine, for exactly your reasons. I can now trust that I won't be interrupted and I can relax to focus.

It seems like the problems expressed by you and the parent comments really come down to the unsuitability of open plan offices for development work that seem to have become popular in many startup environments. Giving people access to offices with doors that close would elimanate an entire class of issues (and admittedly introduce some more, but I couldn't see anything being more destructive than continuous streams of interruptions)

I don't agree, actually. Office doors wouldn't help if people just opened them whenever they wanted. The reason doors can be more effective is because they're a more common sign of that request for uninterrupted thought, but that can be accomplished on open plan offices as well, if you have a policy defining those signals. Open plan offices may be worse on a general noise level, but that's a different issue.

I recently had a variation of this experience with my phone. I was forced to be without it for 48 hours, and after a day there was a distinct mental distinction when I felt a sort of lightness that I can only associate with not only -not checking my phone- but -not thinking whether or not I should check my phone-. if that makes sense...

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