Focus at Work

Over the past few months, I've been reflecting on challenges to productivity and focus at work. While I definitely don't feel like I've totally "figured it out", I wanted to share my journey so far, as well as thoughts about how to cultivate working habits that make you not only objectively more productive, but also feel less stressed and more alive and connected to work.

Symptoms

Productivity has not really been a major concern for me until recently, when changes in my role at work over time culminated into a growing sense of being stretched too thinly. Long gone were the days from the first couple years as a full-time software engineer of being able to crank out a feature in a relatively open schedule, save for the typical team standups and code review. Instead, as a team lead, my responsibilities became more and more varied over time, with less emphasis on my own individual contributions and more emphasis on making the team successful (even though I chose to go with the IC track). In one sense, this is a great thing -- increasing impact! -- but in another sense, it can exhausting. Over time, I'd regularly end days having been pulled in a lot of different directions, put out fires, and unblocked other team members, but with very little time left for my own deliverables. While having one or two of these days from time to time is not unexpected, when the majority of the working days in a week feel like this, it contributes to a sense of burnout and a frenetic pace of work, without much to show for it.

Coping ideas

What follows is a list of things that have helped me along the way. To a large extent, individual working habits and situations are unique and personal, so consider this a starting point rather than a sequential to-do list.

Identifying causes

A helpful diagnostic exercise is to reflect on the factors contributing to the sense of busyness and overwork. Some factors will be obvious, others less so. For example:

• What commonly takes up time in your week?
• What unplanned distractions come your way throughout the day?
• How much "distraction-free" time do you have? What do you do with it?
• What does the cadence and frequency of your communication look like?
• What direct and indirect responsibilities do you have? Can anything be delegated?

In my case, the answers to these questions helped provide some deeper insights into why I was feeling more busy and burdened than in years past. For example, my calendar is objectively more full than it used to be, as I am more frequently involved in formal mentorship touchbases, design meetings, and leadership discussions than in years past. While each of these increases in responsibility may be small on their own, they add up over time, leaving me with less time for other parts of my role.

Along the same lines, the quantity and nature of my responsibilities has shifted over time. To some extent, this is a good thing, and an expected aspect of rising seniority, but it also calls for different approaches to work than in the past. For example, rather than feeling trapped by a growing workload of things that only I can solve, it might take some up-front effort to delegate to someone else or structure a project in a way that is accessible to anyone on the team.

A final insight from this reflective insight is that I had a growing amount of unplanned concerns to attend to. These often come in the form of Slack messages which call for attention in a way that seems urgent. Indeed, Slack can be a great tool for situations that require real-time communication, like working through a production issue, pair programming or debugging, or brainstorming solutions to a design problem in a group setting. Other types of communication on Slack are objectively less urgent, but still deliver value when responded to in a timely manner, like answering questions in the team channel or helping debug a more complex issue facing the team. Still other Slack messages are even less important and urgent, like posts in a social channel about video games or sports or news.

I could probably write a whole blog post about Slack (as others have), but for now I'll limit myself to a few brief thoughts:

• I'm not good at ignoring unread notifications. Even if I'm in the middle of something else important, it's just too enticing to click on the unread indicator and see what's on the other side. A question only I can answer? An opportunity to be helpful? A problem blocking someone on my team? This problem is not limited to Slack, but extends to notifications and social media in general: our brains get a dopamine hit when we read notification, contributing to the irresistible feedback loop of desire and reward.
• Slack usage can lead to an unreasonable expectation of availability that can can be toxic if pushed too far. Now that the majority of workplace communication is digital and it costs virtually nothing to send a message, we're being wired to expect responses with increasing immediacy.

Slack is certainly still a valuable tool, and for those of us who work closely with other people, it isn't realistic to adopt a completely unplugged mentality. At the same time, a thoughtful approach to technology use and communication patterns can help us reclaim some control over our tools rather than being subject to them.

Attention management

But how do we tactically do that?

One thing I have found helpful to think about is "attention management". (You might be wondering why we don't start with time management; the reason is that unless you have effective attention strategies, it can be difficult to make good use of the time you have.)

Probably the most helpful resource for attention management that I've found is Deep Work by Cal Newport. The basic thesis of the book is that we do our best work when we are able to focus on problems without distractions and interruptions, or deep work. In contrast, periods of shallow work, while often unavoidable, make it challenging to focus or perform complex tasks and responsibilities.

For me, there have been a number of practical ways these ideas have played out:

• Control notifications: Rather than getting interrupted with a ping every time someone DMs you or posts to a channel you're a member of, the goal is to only get notifications about things that demand your immediate attention. For me, the primary work tools that notify me are Outlook and Slack, both of which have a fair amount of configurability when it comes to notifications. This basic step can go a long way towards reducing the number of times you need to switch context from one flow of concentration to another.
• When possible, unplug entirely: I'll sometimes close the communication tools to force myself to "batch" communication into smaller chunks of shallow work, leaving the remaining time for deep work.
• Push through hard things: When working on a task that demands intense focus, it's common to encounter difficult problems or decisions. These are the times when it's most tempting to shift focus from the task at hand to something easier, like checking email, responding to a ping, or reading the news. Instead of shifting context, these times are opportunities to build up the "muscle" of focus and train ourselves to push through difficulty.
• Come up for air: while focused work is a goal, you can only focus for so much at a time. Additionally, to the extent that truly important communication comes our way throughout the day, it's important to not delay responses on those messages for too long. Breaks for refreshment or "shallow work" are a good thing, but it's important to be intentional about them.

Time management

Framed in the deep work terminology, "time management" becomes a matter of structuring your day in ways with periods of focused concentration surrounded by periods requiring shallow concentration or greater accessibility from others.

The biggest insight for me in this respect was to realize that we have more control over my schedule than it might seem.

• Batching meetings: Two back-to back 30-minute meetings are much more efficient than two meetings with a 30-minute gap between them. To the extent you schedule meetings with others or have influence over the timing of regular team meetings, being thoughtful about this aspect can be helpful.
• Regular calendar holds: Another strategy I've employed with success is blocking off regular time on my own calendar to prioritize deep work opportunities. For me, I've started with 3:00-6:00 PM on Tuesdays through Thursdays, which provides me with 9 hours of concentration on good weeks. I make a point to clear my notifications and other responsibilities (like code review) from the schedule so that this time can be focused on deliverables I'm moving forward myself.
• Written, async communication: When possible, favor collaboration in long-form written forms like design documents or pull requests over short, byte-sized chunks that come with the expectation of more immediate engagement.
• Live communication when necessary: At the same time, some things are more efficient when discussed live. Preferably, these should be scheduled in advance, have a clear agenda, and involve only the subset of people who need to be there. Meeting notes can be made available for anyone on the team not in attendance to refer to later.

While not an exhaustive list, these ideas, when taken together, help facilitate more frequent and longer opportunities for deep, focused work.

Final thoughts

As mentioned at the beginning, these ideas are still very much a work in progress. I'm sure they'll continue to evolve over time in response to changing environments and responsibilities at work. So far, though, they've helped me shift from feeling trapped and overwhelmed by responsibilities and communication to having a greater sense of control and direction in work.