Reducing Interruptions at Work: A Large Scale Field Study of FlowLight
Due to the high number and cost of interruptions at work, several approaches have been suggested to reduce this cost for knowledge workers. These approaches predominantly focus either on a manual and physical indicator, such as headphones or a closed office door, or on the automatic measure of a worker's interruptibilty in combination with a computer based indicator. Little is known about the combination of a physical indicator with an automatic interruptibility measure and its long term impact in the workplace. In our research, we developed the FlowLight, that combines a physical traffic light like LED with an automatic interruptibility measure based on computer interaction data. In a large scale and long term field study with 449 participants from 12 countries, we found, amongst other results, that the FlowLight reduced the interruptions of participants by 46% increased their awareness on the potential disruptiveness of interruptions and most participants never stopped using it.
CHI