Focus Time: Why 2 Hours of Uninterrupted Code Equals 6 Hours of Fragmented Work
· 9 min read
Gloria Mark's research at UC Irvine found that it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to refocus after a single interruption. Now consider a typical developer morning: 9:07 Slack pings, 9:15 standup reminder, 9:45 a "quick question" from a PM. By 10:30, they've been "working" for 90 minutes but written exactly 11 lines of code. Three interruptions consumed roughly 70 minutes of cognitive recovery time.
This isn't a productivity problem. It's a focus time problem. And the data shows it's costing your team far more than you think.