Career / Work · Advice & Questions · Oct 17

My colleagues need quick answers, but their desk visits keep breaking my concentration

Career / Work

I reached the same sentence four times before finishing it. Each time, somebody arrived beside my desk with a quick question.

I write product descriptions in an open office. The questions are part of the job: the sales team checks wording with me, and I sometimes need their help too. But a morning can turn into forty minutes of writing stretched across three hours.

I tried wearing headphones. A colleague tapped the desk and said she didn’t want to be rude by messaging when I was sitting right there. I could see her point. I’d never told anyone the headphones meant anything beyond listening to music.

I don’t want a system where colleagues need an appointment to ask which photograph belongs with a description. I do need some time when I can hold a whole piece in my head.

What arrangement would you try? How do I ask for uninterrupted stretches while remaining someone people can work with?

Discussion

3 community replies

@TheoInTransit

The headphones didn’t have an agreed meaning, so I’d explain the time you’re asking for rather than expecting people to interpret them. For example, two writing blocks each morning, with a visible time when you’ll answer collected questions. Try it for a week and see whether the sales team can still get what they need.

@maren17

Some of those “quick” questions may be urgent because a customer is waiting. Ask the team which situations genuinely need an interruption and give those a route. A photograph needed for tomorrow’s page and wording needed during a live conversation don’t have to be handled identically. You can protect a writing block while acknowledging that exceptions exist.

@northstar88

Would a shared list of the current products and their approved photographs remove a few recurring questions? Only worth doing if the same information is being requested repeatedly. If every question is different, you need time and an agreed contact method. I’d count the actual interruptions before volunteering to build another document you then have to maintain.

My colleagues need quick answers, but their desk visits keep breaking my concentration

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