Peopleware Papers: Notes on the Human Side of Software, The

Chapter 6. Irksome Interruptions

Interruptions can be irksome. On the other hand, a bug that doesn't come to your attention may stay in the code, and an idea that you never hear about won't help you solve a problem. How well and how efficiently people communicate within an office or on a project team can make a real difference in performance. Sharing an office makes it easy to share information. Sometimes that's a plus, sometimes not. The kind of intense and focused thinking that is necessary for good code construction or for ferreting out elusive bugs benefits from sustained and undivided attention. When the words of an article or the lines of code just seem to flow from the fingertips, the last thing you want is someone throwing in a casual ...