Everybody knows that focus time is important especially for individual contributor levels. But also in a management role I value focus time a lot for strategic work, research, analysis, and sometimes even just to be able to process all input and reflect on what the current state and bigger picture are. (View Highlight)
To ensure sufficient focus time for everyone we mainly used two strategies in the tech department:
Have dedicated meeting slots in everyone’s calendars and use them for all/most meetings
Have senior/principal developers available to unblock people quickly (View Highlight)
And by this there are usually only two hours of meeting time per day, and they are always at the same time, so you can plan your day accordingly and you’ll know when you have to leave your focus zone (View Highlight)
Clearly define expected response times
• Mail: One working day
• Slack notification: 4 hours (during working hours) (View Highlight)
Offer a space to meet and host “open office hours” (View Highlight)
it is OK to close Slack (or not look at it) for 4 hours (View Highlight)
