Do you have a physical "developer busy" indicator ?

Question

At my workplace, it has been suggested that each developer is given the opportunity to indicate to his peers that he is busy and cannot be disturbed. This would be done in order to ensure that you don't get disturbed, when you are "in the zone".

Do you think this is a good idea ? Do you have anything like that at your workplace ?

I am also wondering how it would be best to indicate the "busy status". It should be something physical that can be seen by everyone in the office. This is for an open-room office; so closing a door cannot be used.

What would you suggest ?

Answer 1

I used to have a problem where I couldn't get my work done because of the constant interuptions. My boss at the time wanted me to setup office hours when I would make myself available (Which I refused to do). I would have much rather had a do not disturb sign.

A traffic signal would be a good way to indicate. Green means you can go and ask me questions, Yellow means ask but only if its important. And red means stop turn around I'm busy come back later.

Answer 2

I guess as a developer you are busy 24/7! But people do not care!

Answer 3

This goes well with Joel's "every developer should have an office" quote... thus if you have an office... Door open means come on in... Door closed means I'm busy.

Answer 4

The office manager at my company when I started was kind of a slacker. She'd put up a nicely made sign on her door not to disturb her as she was "doing payroll." She eventually left and we got a new office manager who isn't nearly as slackerly.

So I commandeered the sign and when I'm busy I flip it out so people run into it when they walk around the corner to my desk.

Answer 5

I and at least a couple of my co-workers do, though it's informal.

My own signal is that I have my headphones on. If my headphones are on, it's a sign that I'm trying to tune out external distractions and get into flow.

I've also seen an informal triangular pyramid used, with each side a different color saying something like "Not busy", "Interruptable", and "Not interruptable."

Another of my colleagues uses a much less subtle approach. He's built a chain out of paperclips that he hangs across his cubicle entry with a sign that hangs down, saying "Do not disturb."

Answer 6

Short of a blaring klaxon, I usually find the Outlook calendar works fine for this: block off sections of time as "busy". If your coworkers have a good sense of humor, arm your cube with nerf artillery.

Is it a good idea? Yes. In some environments, like the one where I work, developers are interrupted constantly by phonecalls, meetings, etc. Developers really need some solo time to get their [vulgar mumbling] done.

Answer 7

What do you think about this solution? ;-)

Answer 8

I've never find it really annoying to be disturbed. sometimes it's good to be disturbed, because you have to get back into 'the zone', which makes you re-analyze the problem.

it's never wrong to take a step back and re-analyze your problems, I'm convinced it is a good thing. so, being disturbed to solve someone else's problems might solve yours.. eventually..

of course, in the office where I work (we do not have cubicals or offices .. just desks) the 'disturbance-rate' is not that high.

I personally think something like a traffic signal might be a bit aggressive, I'd like to be open to people's questions as much as possible. Then again, in the office where I work there are only programmers, which makes it easier.

Answer 9

Open-room office and distraction goes hand in hand IMHO. If your boss really doesn't want you to get disturbed, then he should invest in private office (with a door).

Answer 10

Well, we use MSN Messenger internally, and we're connected all day; we use its statuses for this... "Busy" means Busy, "Online" means you can come and ask me questions, and "Away" means I'm not at my desk, so don't bother getting up.

Answer 11

Although, the physical indicator works in some scenarios, a lot of communication ( in my office at least) happen via IM or email. Therefore, you need an electronic indicator as well. Being a developer, you should totally combine the two. Having some sort of phyical device like the stoplight mentioned, but have it be controled by your IM status or your Outlook status

Answer 12

Whatever happened to the good old verbal "I'm abit busy right now, could this wait till abit later?" A human touch is always better than some artificial, anti-social external sign.

Answer 13

If someone feels it important to disturb you, no traffic signals or paperclip chains will stop them. The closed door would be probably the most effective solution, but I know it's impossible to change your open-space env. (it has nonetheless its pros) into a labyrinth of open/closed doors.

I like the headphones idea. Even if someone dares to disturb you, speaks up to you, one can still pretend not to have heard, and this feigned ignorance usually snuffs out other people's interest to speak to you. But you can't suggest to all developers to wear headphones when they're busy. For example, I can't listen to music when I'm in the zone. I need silence. So what can a developer like me do in an open space env. (btw i work in this env.) ? Well... go for a cuppa, relax a little, chat with a colleague and get used to the idea that not everything is going to get done today.

Answer 14

I am lucky enough that I can close my door.

Answer 15

How about a tazer?

Zap, zap, zap zap, "Can't you see how freaking busy I am Hans Bricks?!!!!!".

Answer 16

I don't really see the point, in my experince most of the people who bug me will bug me even if I actually tell them to go away.

the biggest one ive seen from others is to put their phone headset on so it looks like they are talking to someone and pretty much everyone will leave you alone ( except the for mentioned people)

Answer 17

At our office we have introduced an idea called the 'Interruption Day' where each developer is assigned a day of the week where they are the go-to person for that day. This way, if another developer has a question, they go to the interruption person for that day first. The same goes for support staff, if they have a bug or a client question, the interruption day person is the one that handles that.

I find the best thing about this idea is that when it is your interruption day, you are expecting to be interrupted often, so you focus your attention on smaller items that don't require as much deep concentration. When it is not your day, you know you will not have many interruptions.

Answer 18

At my old job we had a bunch of yellow plastic chain that we would hang across the cube door. it was simple and very affective. I miss it, where I'm at right now I have to live with ear plugs.