How to handle interruptions to stay productive in your task management

Why interruptions cost so much

To manage our daily tasks, we have to deal with interruptions, planned or not. For those of us with heavy workloads, and few people escape this, interruptions can seriously reduce productivity and efficiency. Knowing how to handle them is essential to stay productive.

Contrary to what some people think, we are not multitaskers. We cannot carry out several activities that require attention and concentration at the same time. What we call multitasking is in fact a rapid succession of switches from one task to another.

Each switch has a cost: disconnecting from a task and reconnecting to it takes time and energy. You need to remember where you were, reread what you had done and find your train of thought again. Being subject to many interruptions often leads to a paradoxical feeling at the end of the day: extreme fatigue, combined with the sense of having accomplished nothing.

The different types of interruptions in your work

Interruptions fall into two main categories:

• Internal interruptions are self-generated: procrastination, distracting thoughts, the urge to check your messages or your phone, a voluntary break in the middle of a difficult task.
• External interruptions come from outside: phone calls, notifications, emails, colleagues stopping by, customer requests, unplanned meetings.

The distinction matters because the remedies differ. Internal interruptions are a matter of personal discipline and work organisation. External interruptions are a matter of communication and team rules.

How to manage interruptions?

Here are some methods to handle interruptions and stay focused on priority tasks.

Plan for interruptions

It is effective to decide in advance when you will take breaks and answer your emails. Two or three slots a day dedicated to messages are often enough. This helps avoid unplanned interruptions that break your workflow, and it reassures the people who are waiting for an answer: they know it will come.

Use the Pomodoro method

The Pomodoro method, developed by Francesco Cirillo, is a time management technique that alternates a period of focused work (traditionally 25 minutes) with a short break of a few minutes. It helps you concentrate on one task for a given time, while planning breaks to deal with interruptions and step back from the task at hand. Anything that comes up during a session is written down and dealt with during the break.

Prioritise your tasks

Prioritising tasks according to their importance and urgency sounds obvious, but how many of us actually do it? With a prioritised task list, you know what to work on in each focused block, and you can judge immediately whether an interruption deserves to take its place. The Eisenhower matrix is a simple tool for this, and our article on prioritization in task management compares other methods.

Avoid voluntary interruptions

Some interruptions can be avoided by limiting intentional distractions: social networks, video games, unnecessary conversations. It takes discipline, rigour and willpower, but the results are worth it. A few simple measures help:

• turn off non-essential notifications on your computer and phone;
• close your email client during focused work;
• keep your phone out of sight;
• write down any idea that crosses your mind instead of acting on it immediately.

Communicate with colleagues

If you work in a team, let your colleagues know when you are busy and when you are available. Outside emergencies, you will not normally be disturbed during these times. Most collaborative platforms, such as Microsoft Teams, let you indicate that you do not wish to be disturbed: use this option, and tell your colleagues that you count on them to respect it.

What to do when an interruption happens anyway

Some interruptions cannot be avoided. Rather than dropping everything, take a few seconds to decide:

1. Is it really urgent? If not, note it and deal with it at the next planned slot.
2. Can someone else handle it? If so, redirect the request.
3. If you must deal with it now, note where you stopped on your current task in one sentence. You will find your thread much faster afterwards.

A request that becomes a real task should not stay in your head. Add it to your task list with a due date: this frees your attention and prevents it from coming back as a distracting thought.

Reducing interruptions as a team

Many external interruptions are requests for information: where is this file, who handles that subject, has this action been done? When the answers are visible to everyone, there is less need to ask. A shared list of actions, with their owner, due date and status, removes a large share of these questions. This is one of the benefits of team-based task management.

Good control of interruptions is essential to efficient task management. By scheduling interruptions, using time management techniques and prioritising your tasks, you limit untimely interruptions and stay focused on what matters. Not only will your productivity improve, you will also be less tired and enjoy the sense of a job well done. For more advice, see our 9 tips to manage your priorities better.