Teresa Dietrich

Hi everyone. My name is Teresa Dietrich, and I'm the Chief Product and Technology Officer at Stack Overflow. I manage a team here that spans nearly every time zone across the Americas and Europe. And we were already 80% remote before the pandemic hit, and now of course, we're working 100% remote. I have over 20 years in the tech industry. I started at AOL back in the '90s and have worked at WebMD, Namely, and most recently at McKinsey New Ventures before joining Stack Overflow, in engineering and technology leadership roles. And outside of tech, my biggest passions are travel and reading. Which of course means this year it's been a lot more reading than travel, but looking forward to get back to it sometime in the not too distant future.

So, what are we talking about today? Well, today I'm going to talk to you about the true cost of distractions in the workplace, and ways you can improve collaboration and productivity while being aware and cautious of the impacts of interruptions. So, at the end of this talk, you'll know the impact of distractions such as emails, chat pings, and impromptu meetings. Recommendations for reducing those distractions and driving productivity. And three ways to improve company or team-wide collaboration that individual contributors and managers can implement.

Let's talk about the underlying problems of distractions. Technology that keeps us connected has been around for over 20 years now, and it's growing more mature every day. And as any industry matures, it solves the easy problems and creates efficient industry-standard solutions that improve productivity for everyone. That leaves the hard problems to solve. The breakthroughs and innovations that forge the next big opportunities for us all. Growing in a maturing space means tackling the hard problems that no one's been able to solve yet. And solving hard problems needs sustained focus and attention from your technologists.

The space and freedom to focus is your company's most valuable resource.

Your focus is being stolen every single day. Your technology experts and other knowledge workers need uninterrupted time and focus to enter flow states, which is the mindset in which they can bring their full suite of skills and experience to bear on the issue at hand. As described in the book, "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, being in this flow zone allows one to fully become engaged and focused on the task at hand. It leads to better results and to greater happiness. But it can only happen when you have the opportunity to focus on whatever it is that lies before you.

47. 47 is the number of times the average person is likely to check her or his smartphone today according to Deloitte's Global Mobile Consumer Survey. What about you? I know I check my phone more than 47 times, and I can't even imagine once you count into how often I'm looking at notifications on my desktop during the workday. And just like our phone, chat messaging platforms at work are taking away employee time that's really valuable and distracting them. One reason for this is due to a biological incentive. Great, so it's working against us. There's a dopamine reward cycle from constantly checking for messages and responding to every notification. A feeling of achieving something, getting something done, when we're all sitting here with way too many things to do. It lets us feel some sense of satisfaction or accomplishment.

Six hours. Six hours is possibly how much lost time you have in a day from distractions. So how do we get there, right? Another common disruption for those in the office is a simple tap on the shoulder, although not so much right now. For technologists, they're thinking of a whole lot of things at once. Solving problems that requires a deep understanding of a mental model of a whole system and the current situation they're dealing with, and they're trying to remember and think about all these things at one time. And a simple tap or a simple ding, a Slack notification, can be disastrous in terms of how much time they have to go back or how far back into the process they have to go.

These pings, dings, shoulder taps, have a measured impact on your productivity. Research from the University of California and Humboldt University found that workers can lose up to 23 minutes on a task every time they're interrupted.

Researchers at UC Irvine observed office workers in their natural habitat. Doesn't that sound a little interesting, right? Natural habitat. And found that on average, they switched tasks or were interrupted about every three minutes. Every three minutes. Wow, that's context switching at its peak. And on top of that, it could take another 20 minutes to get back to where they were. And that's how those interruptions could end up costing an individual up to six hours every single day. That's more than half the workday, folks. No wonder we're all working so many hours. Okay. So, maybe you've seen this before, maybe you haven't. And it just sort of goes into the complex problem-solving that engineers and other folks do. And how far deep they'll be into a problem. And when they get distracted, they often have to go quite far back into that sort of analysis and deep thinking process. And I think we've all been there. Some of us are smart enough and maybe learned over time to, when someone comes to interrupt, to just say, "Stop. Wait." Before I lose my train of thought. But a lot of times, that isn't actually how it works. Our brain's already switched and moved over to this.

You and your employees feel this. All these interruptions can lead to greater stress and anxiety. Depending on the task, productivity may not suffer, but the interruptions may cause us to work faster, which leads to greater time pressure, frustration, and stress. It takes more effort to complete the same amount of work with interruptions in the mix. Okay, so what you understand is even if somehow your productivity doesn't suffer, it's because you're more stressed, you're more anxious, and you're working harder than you necessarily have to, to try and compensate or offset that. And in the longer term, enduring regular interruptions, up to 85 per day, can lead to decreased job satisfaction and burnout. Knowledge workers who are interrupted in a counterproductive manner are significantly more stressed. They've had higher levels of stress, frustration, mental effort, feelings of time pressure, and mental workload. Right? So think about the fact that we're all working from home now, right? So not only do we have all the screen disruptions and distractions going on, but we may have personal life distractions that are going on. For example, the FedEx delivery guy came just before I got on here to talk to you. Or your pets, your kids, your roommates, or your partners may have distractions or interruptions that are going on and making this even harder. So now we've got even more distractions in addition to the ones on the screen or maybe from our coworkers.

Stress and anxiety creates a feedback loop. It can cause both attention problems, like difficulty concentrating. Without the ability to focus on what you're working on, you may forget steps or not remember solutions you've found. Right? So you may be more likely to have errors. Anxiety has also been linked to memory lapses. And if you're constantly forgetting information you've already received from your coworkers, now you've got to go interrupt them again to get that information, because maybe you got it in a way that was hard for you to go back and find.

And companies, in trying to make us more productive, are giving us more opportunities for distraction. Chat, video, email have all raised significant amounts of capital. Everybody's trying to be the next great real-time collaboration software. And we've seen it rise, especially with folks working outside of the offices, and for most recently and for the continued future. Last year, Zoom and Slack went public, which reinforces the view that the market for business communications is growing. Data provided by PitchBook Data, Inc., shows that in each of the last four years, there were more than 100 financing rounds for enterprise communication software. Enterprise collaboration, as well as communication software, continue to grow at a rapid pace. The chart shows investments here from 2017 at 3.3 billion, 2018 at 5.7 billion, and 2019 from 6.2 billion from a Wall Street Journal article.

Okay, so how do we balance this? We know that the need for collaboration and meaningful communication is a requirement. We know we can't just say, "Oh, we don't need to communicate or collaborate," right? We need it to be successful, especially as remote work becomes more of the norm, right? So how do we balance it?

The promising market, the investment for tools, and the flexibility to work from just about anywhere is where we are living today. Right? And Stack Overflow actually started as a remote-first culture. And before the pandemic, nearly 50% of our employees were working out of a home office or somewhere else in the world they were traveling, right? And it's allowed us to attract and retain some pretty great talent, regardless of someone's geography. And with these tools to help communication and connectivity, we're seeing interruptions right and left. So let's look at the problem a different way.

What makes us miserable about our current state of constant interruptions is that it destroys our control, right? So our focus is not under our command. We're not in control of our focus. We're not in control of our workday. Instead, it ends up being at the mercy of notification, on top of notification, on top of notification. And even multiple devices, right? Your phone having multiple notifications, your screen having multiple notifications. So it's really just on top of it, and they're all desperately trying to remove control from your hands. So how do we get it back?

Our always on culture means that work contacts don't always stay within the bounds of the workplace, especially in remote or work from home situations. It all becomes too easy to answer email and Slack messages after hours. Right? So someone else finally gets time because they're maybe working different hours or have a different schedule because they're dealing with maybe childcare issues or time zone differentials. And so they respond to your email or your Slack or a message on a group Slack channel, and then you feel compelled because you got the notification of the email or of the messages, and so you feel compelled now to answer. And it just sort of compounds from there. So just freeing up your free time, the time you're not supposed to be working, seems to be best-case scenario. If I can just unplug when I'm not supposed to be working, that's the best-case scenario. How can organizations offer industry-leading tools and technology to improve communication and collaboration while keeping employees productive, and most importantly, remove additional stress that's added through these tools?

So, how do we fix it? By giving employees, or yourself in some instances, the ability to recover some measure of control over the focus of their week. Okay. So first of all, let's come up with some ways that you and your teammates can work to get your focus back so that you can focus on delivering business results, delivering on your OKRs, and your goals.

So first, agree on universal do not disturb hours. Block out time that you and your teammates are not available, and share these do not disturb hours with key groups that you work with. Some companies do this across the whole company, some do it by orgs or by teams that work closely together, and I think that's really important. Something that we're actually starting to do is actually blocking out lunchtime. And that's not actually for focus hours, that's actually to walk away from the screen, right? We're all spending so much more time in front of the screen. We don't get the breaks of face-to-face meetings or other time. And so really having do not disturb hours and allowing that for either recharging, taking a walk and doing some deep thinking, or focusing on something that you really need to get done that's important.

Another one is picking one must-do for yourself a week and sharing that with your teammates. I don't know how you are, but I like to have a set of priorities. It may be Post-It notes on my screen, it may be on my whiteboard. But something to try and keep recentering myself back to what are the things I have to get done. Not all of the things everyone else has asked me to do, but what are the things I really need to get done this week? And so sharing that must-do for this week. Right? One of the ideas that we've come up with is, what if that's your Slack status message? Right? Maybe put it on your calendar. But some way for your teammates to know this is the one thing that they need to do. So not only will you reinforce it for yourself, but you'll reinforce it for others, too, that will help them maybe before they interrupt you go, "Is what I'm going to need to talk to them about have to do with their must-do? Or maybe it doesn't. Maybe I can wait and send it in a less synchronous, real-time sort of way."

And lastly, know the end goal. You and your teammates need to know what the key performance indicators, OKR business goals are that you're working on. And if something distracts you, you can ask yourself, "Does this help us get to the end goal?" Right? And I think it's so important for us to hold each other accountable, because it's always easy to put what other people are asking you first. And so it really helps to have partners or buddies or colleagues that are accountability partners for you to help you retain your focus and not get distracted by all the pings and asks that are made of you.

Next, I want to focus on building a collaborative culture. We know the benefits from collaboration are significant, but what are the risks if you don't have a collaborative culture? According to the Project Management Institute, 57% of failed projects have to do with ineffective communication. So by building a collaborative culture, everyone benefits. Everyone feels like their work matters, they have meaning and purpose. Deloitte's 2020 article, "Belonging: From Comfort to Connection to Contribution," states that people are looking for work to give them a sense of personal fulfillment and satisfaction, and these things are driven by a sense of belonging. We spend so much time at work and with our colleagues, of course we're looking for our work to matter and to bring us a sense of personal fulfillment.

Belonging encompasses being comfortable at work, being treated fairly, and being respected by others. Being connected to your teammates and to your wider organization and colleagues. And three, that their contributions are valued. Seeing how their strengths and their impact are helping the organization achieve goals. Belonging leads to collaboration. It makes people want to collaborate because they feel like they belong and they're part of the team or the organization. Collaboration leads to a higher chance of success because people are comfortable, connected, and feel the value of others for their contributions. So what are the stakes we can get there to this collaborative culture? Right?

First, we need to have clarity around roles, responsibilities, and mission. Having everyone on the same page about who does what on a project helps avoid communication pitfalls. You need to understand who's doing the project, what does success look like on the project, right? A great example of this is a RACI diagram, which has been used for a very long time, but it keeps being used because it works. Because you can end up with cultures in which everyone thinks they're a decision-maker, everyone thinks that they're a stakeholder. And it's really important to really define who has the roles, who's responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed. Clarity helps minimize constant questions or impromptu meetings to determine who owns what, who's responsible for what, or to try and create processes because there's confusion or complexity in the roles and responsibilities. Ensuring there's little overlap in those responsibilities, a clear process, an ultimate understanding of what success looks like is very important. Then how does this goal ladder up to the organization? Having set strategic initiatives is a must when enforcing clarity. At Stack Overflow, we work to set strategic initiatives, and then work for everyone to roll down and understand how their goals feed into that.

Now, buy-in and psychological safety. Everyone wants autonomy. So just like everyone wants control over their own day, everyone wants autonomy in their role. They want to have control over how they work and the ability to speak up when they have new ideas or solutions. Ensuring employees feel trust and confidence to build that psychological safety they need to express new ideas, to leverage new ways of thinking, and build relationships to help them solve these complex problems. Because we rarely solve these problems on our own, right? A safe environment in which employees can speak up with their ideas or solutions leads to more productive collaboration time. This results in less one-on-one or intimate brainstorming sessions that can eat into people's day and working blocks. It allows people to compose their thoughts beforehand and ideas without fear of interruption or immediate challenge. And it also allows for asynchronous collaboration. Research from Google showed that a well-organized team collaborated well with-- had individuals who felt psychologically safe. It reduces the possibility of leaving the company, increases the likelihood of diverse ideas, helps bring in more revenue, and allowed team members to be twice as effective in getting their job done.

Next, you need to equip employees with just the right amount of information. And I think this is so much harder to do than it sounds. I always say I spend a good part of my day doing two things, managing expectations and setting context. And for teams and individuals, it's a real balance to make sure that they have just the right amount of information. Employees can only take in so much information and so much interruption, so we know that that's a distraction. And so they need the right amount of information to go forward and work on what they need to work on, enough information that they can make decisions and calls as unexpected things happen or they progress on their work. But if you overwhelm them with too much information, they may try and solve a larger problem. They may get out of scope of the original problem they're being asked to solve. And so it's super important that we do that.

So how do we implement these as independent contributors? Clarity around role, responsibility, and missions. Ask for and offer clarity. Have conversations with your peers and your colleagues. Start the conversation with simple, "Here's what I'm going to focus on today or this week, and here's why. What are you focusing on?" End the meeting with clear next steps and owners for those next steps. And clarify and get verbal answers from people like, "Beth, you're taking on XYZ."

Buy-in and psychological safety. Agree with your teammates that you'll all be open to each other's ideas and give each other the space and time to compose their thoughts or responses. It benefits everybody, not just a few individuals. And then hold each other accountable so that if it happens, if somebody starts to not make space for people, that other people can call them out in a non-confrontational way or create that space if someone else is starting to edge in. Add a call-out on your doc or at the start of a meeting or within a discussions thread that says very specifically, "Collaboration space. All ideas, thoughts, and perspectives are welcome." You can also establish tone indicators for written communications. One person calls out at Stack that she's going to poke when she's challenging someone's idea in a constructive way. It's her cue that the poke is meant to be that she's just trying to think outside the box or think from a different perspective, but that there's not any malicious intent in her challenge, and she's looking forward to the conversation that's going to come after her poke.

So to recap, there's real productivity costs to losing focus, and there's a major impact to one's wellbeing and stress level. You can protect your team's focus on a daily basis. Again, agree on universal do not disturb hours. Pick one must-do a week and share that widely. Know the end goal and make sure everyone else does, too. You can implement company-wide or team-wide approaches for improving focus and collaboration. Clarity around roles and responsibilities. Creating buy-in and a psychologically safe workplace, and making sure folks have just the right amount of information.

Hopefully, I didn't scare you all too much with some of these stats. The first time I saw them, I was a bit shocked. It made me think, "How do we actually get anything done?" But hopefully it made you more aware. It made you more thoughtful, maybe about the next time you interrupt or ping someone. And maybe one of these recommendations will be something you'll take back to your team and implement in a way that helps make it a better, more collaborative, happy workplace for you and your colleagues. Thank you so much.