I'm the head of IT at Statistics Iceland. I describe myself as a hacker turned manager so that other hackers don't have to (but I sure do miss hacking all the time).
Interuptions in our open office space were a big problem a while back. We have essentially two different teams in the developer team's office:
The biggest problem was not how loud the keyboards were -- people screened that off with headphones -- but rather other staff from the organization who needed to talk to one of the teams. The discussions bothered the other team. The two development teams work together so we didn't want to split them up (we thought about it but decided against it) but they also bothered each other because they worked on different projects.
So to solve it we brainstormed ideas to improve our development methodology, especially regarding the interruptions. Two things came out:
Hodor and
Meditation time
Hodor
(It should be called "do not disturb hours" or something but there was a joke flying around because of a misunderstanding about Hodor so that name stuck)
Every day between 10 and 12 in the morning the development team (db+web) closes the door and nobody can disturb them. Preferably they also close email, chat etc. This is holy time for the development team to make sure that they get time every day to work on their projects.
People will either have to come back after lunch, submit a ticket to an internal ticketing system, or talk to the department head if there is anything they need (there's a big sign on the door with instructions).
No meetings can be scheduled during these two hours. Disturbance in the room needs to be kept to a minimum.
The only exception to this are emergency situations but under those
circumstances managing the situation inside the development room is
discouraged.
Mediation time
Hodor (Do not disturb hours) are kicked off each day with meditation time. Developers take 15 minutes to meditate, each in their own way and are guided by an experienced team member.
People can freely participate in meditation, browse the web, do some work, think, whatever. They just have to keep quiet and gain focus.
Outcome
This combination of mediation and do not disturb hours really helped us gain control over the interruptions. Meditation helped set the mood and then people work for 2 hours (other employees in the organization respect these two hours, even so much that when X-mas gifts were handed out I (unit head) was asked if I would keep the gifts in my office while the developers were working).
My wife had a similar problem even if she was in her own office. She was constantly interrupted at work even if she had headphones while in the zone. So I suggested that she buy a really silly/threatening teddybear that she could put on her desk when she needed focus, as a sign of "I don't want to be disturbed now" (e.g. holding a sign that says do not disturb). She hasn't had to use it since she bought it so I don't know if it works well or not, but that's another idea for reducing interruptions.
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We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
Interuptions in our open office space were a big problem a while back. We have essentially two different teams in the developer team's office:
The biggest problem was not how loud the keyboards were -- people screened that off with headphones -- but rather other staff from the organization who needed to talk to one of the teams. The discussions bothered the other team. The two development teams work together so we didn't want to split them up (we thought about it but decided against it) but they also bothered each other because they worked on different projects.
So to solve it we brainstormed ideas to improve our development methodology, especially regarding the interruptions. Two things came out:
Hodor
(It should be called "do not disturb hours" or something but there was a joke flying around because of a misunderstanding about Hodor so that name stuck)
Every day between 10 and 12 in the morning the development team (db+web) closes the door and nobody can disturb them. Preferably they also close email, chat etc. This is holy time for the development team to make sure that they get time every day to work on their projects.
People will either have to come back after lunch, submit a ticket to an internal ticketing system, or talk to the department head if there is anything they need (there's a big sign on the door with instructions).
No meetings can be scheduled during these two hours. Disturbance in the room needs to be kept to a minimum.
The only exception to this are emergency situations but under those
circumstances managing the situation inside the development room is
discouraged.
Mediation time
Hodor (Do not disturb hours) are kicked off each day with meditation time. Developers take 15 minutes to meditate, each in their own way and are guided by an experienced team member.
People can freely participate in meditation, browse the web, do some work, think, whatever. They just have to keep quiet and gain focus.
Outcome
This combination of mediation and do not disturb hours really helped us gain control over the interruptions. Meditation helped set the mood and then people work for 2 hours (other employees in the organization respect these two hours, even so much that when X-mas gifts were handed out I (unit head) was asked if I would keep the gifts in my office while the developers were working).
My wife had a similar problem even if she was in her own office. She was constantly interrupted at work even if she had headphones while in the zone. So I suggested that she buy a really silly/threatening teddybear that she could put on her desk when she needed focus, as a sign of "I don't want to be disturbed now" (e.g. holding a sign that says do not disturb). She hasn't had to use it since she bought it so I don't know if it works well or not, but that's another idea for reducing interruptions.