Program yourself!

Debug the way you work to enjoy it.

If this idea sounds crazy to you, it’s because it is actually. It’s crazy how a solution to a lot of our problems at work is sitting right in front of our noses, right under our desk or on it, in your pockets, or in the palm of our hands even. Yet nobody noticed. Until now. So, let me inspire you, to learn from the algorithms that power the very device you’re reading this article on and the way they were created. Let me tell you all about why they will help you escape the interruption conundrum, how you can use it to fight overburden and how to team up properly in this three-part series of articles.

To me, the secret lies within how the interaction between the processor and all the other parts of the computer is handled. It's how the operation system schedules multiple programs and tasks within these programs, to be executed by the processor. On top of that, a lot of it is down to guidelines, to properly implement the software they run.

In the 90s, there was a buzz-word that I’d like to give a little bit of love in this context: Interactivity. It was used to sell multi-tasking capable software, i.e. software that was able to be used, while completing longer tasks, or could be used for doing multiple things at once, like listening to music while writing. Of course, there’s been enough debate about how humans cannot multi-task. And that’s true. But neither can computers. Way back when I got into computers, when you did something as simple as save, you couldn’t go on using that program, while it wrote out your work to disk. Neither could you run two programs at once – at least without lag. Smooth, responsive and seamless multi-tasking, as you're used to now, requires a couple of clever ideas that can be adapted and applied to suit us humans.

The Interruption conundrum

First, the most important point of all: Interactivity for us humans isn’t at all about multi-tasking, as in doing multiple things simultaneously. It is about actually interacting, about communicating and doing things together. For example, exchanging information, discussing, trading and negotiating. Only by talking to each other, or rather, reaching out to each other, can somebody ever receive help or assistance. Only by talking to each other, can we understand each other and the things we want to do or achieve.

It's safe to say, that interactions are important. If you take a look at the Idea behind Linux's O(1) scheduling and CFS algorithm, you will find that interactions are treated with the highest priority. So, I suggest you to do the same. These interactions should be short and sweet however. Just as within a computer, they should not take up a lot of time. If there is a large amount of information, just do what the computer does. Take note where the information is to be found and schedule a time to digest it as a longer task.

If the information needs to be discussed, make an appointment, so you can focus. A quick note about discussions: To alleviate the pressure, to answer quickly - most of the time too quickly - I like to suggest to treat every discussion as ongoing, even if the scheduled time for it "ended". If you can, schedule the continuation, if not, just take a break and work based on the latest state in the meantime. However, take that state with the necessary grain of salt and allow deviation. Also, please welcome addition to the discussion at any time.

After tending to your interactions, you can do your deep work, as Cal Newport suggests. However, I'd like to advise you not to get stuck in it and take regular breaks. That is exactly how your operation system's scheduler approaches longer tasks. It takes regular breaks and uses them to check, if something more important emerged. To decide when to take a break, you could of course put yourself on the clock, however there is a better approach: Simply listen to your body and your feelings, as Harry Groenert suggests in his Article. Also any spontaneous interaction is in itself a good excuse for a break. For example, when you're done with a phone call, you might as well take a break and resume by checking what's most important and doing that.

So, to solve the interaction conundrum:

• Value interaction over long work.
• Keep Interactions short and sweet.
• Store larger information and schedule appropriate time to digest them.
• Treat every discussion as ongoing. Forever, if need be.
• Practice Deep Work after Interactions.
• Take regular breaks from Deep Work
• Listen to your body and your feelings, when to take a break.
• Every interaction is a good excuse for a break in itself.

In the next part, I will tell you, how to program yourself to detect and deal with overburden.