More PM, Interrupted

Tom's latest eBook has been released on Amazon: "The 7 Myths of IT Integrations". Tom is also a Program Director for a large Midwest corporation and has been an adjunct faculty member at Walsh College. He has managed global web initiatives, data center moves and large multi-million dollar programs.

  Communications Management   Knowledge Management   Lessons Learned   Schedule Management   Scheduling   Talent Management  

Why does it make sense for a PM to focus on his or her own productivity? Perhaps the thing that adversely impacts more project managers (and knowledge workers in general, for that matter) is interruptions. Let’s face it: Interruptions are one of the main battles we face each and every day. Distractions, interruptions, problems and stop-bys all end up having a cumulative drain on our capacities to manage projects and get things done.

The High Cost
Jonathon Spira noted in an article (“The High Cost of Interruptions”) that email, cell phones, other people, etc. can eat up as much as 28 percent of our workday. When you sit down to complete a task or attempt to work an item through to completion, your chance of achieving that in today’s environment is practically zero. So rather than try to create cute little workarounds to help us gain lost ground due to interruptions, what if we tried to manage the interruptions in the first place?

If you want to draw a direct line between your own personal productivity and its biggest enemy, than you have to acknowledge that it’s interruptions. Not only do you have a high likelihood of being interrupted in the first place, but when interruptions occurs it can take you up to 24 minutes to get back to the mental zone that you were in before the distraction occurred. The results are loss of focus, loss of …

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