How to deal with unexpected workflow interruptions.

photo credit: african_fi / sxc.hu

The unexpected is something quite common during our daytime as web designers. Especially when you are part of a small team or working alone, the phone ring can be turned up to a pretty annoying noise. Our work depends in concentration. We need to be “in the zone”. That’s the reason way many of us use to do most of the creative work early in the morning or late at night. Read more about inspiration

Unfortunately we have to work during the common office hours and daytime. If you have a seperate office from home, then you have to play the role of a secretary. You start working on something, the ideas strart to flow and then ‘riiiiiiiing’

-Client: “Hi, i just added something to my site, and it looks awful!! Can you fix it?” Another undefined ie bug, another content pasted from word and your head is going to explode.

Client requests is the most usual interruption in an office environment and they are somehow managable.

Leave your non creative work for the busy hours

From your experience you will be able to see which hours of your day are the most busy. Organize your to-do list to work, at these hours, in small and more administrative tasks. Put very short term deadlines and break your tasks in small goals.

Put these into to-do lists for the day. This way you will be able to accomplish more things before someone interrupts you. Remember that administrative works don’t need you to be in “the zone”. You can do them whenever you find time. This way you take advantage of every time gap.

Don’t check your email every minute

Be focused in your task and don’t pause it to check if something new happened. If you broke down your work into small tasks, check your email everytime you finished one. This way you don’t waste time and you empty your to-do list faster.

Prioritize the tasks, adding the new ones that came with latest emails. Don’t place the new at the end of your list. Keep hierarchy and try to put the tasks you can finish fast, on top. Finish as many tasks as fast as you can. Try to keep your list empty. Your email will be responsible to fill it again!

Don’t forget to relax

Although we talked about finishing as many tasks as possible, always remember your 10 minutes break every hours. It’s not a waste of time, as many of you will say. You will see the benefits of it at the end of your day, when you start working on your creative tasks. Your mind will be less tired and more focused.