You raise some interesting points in your article. The one thing you pointed out, which I don’t do and should enforce is the busy status. I found that when I was busy, I was still receiving messages – and by that nature compelled to reply to them. I think had I have not replied, the message would have been clear and the people wouldn’t have bothered messaging me while in that status. I might give it another whirl and see how it pans out.

Al.

Used the right way I think the benefits at work outweight the negatives….

FYI my rules http://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/Standards/Rules/RulestoBetterInstantMessenger.aspx

Adam

I also close outlook for anything up to an hour or two at a time to complete tasks that require my constant attention, for example programming or churning through standard book keeping / tax shite.

For a while I took to using Google Talk, not because it was ‘all things google’, but because only my current work collegues are on it. This had an interesting effect – whilst it continued to allow my staff to contact me regarding questions or asking for help with a coding bug, etc – it also allowed them to interupt me.

During business hours I’m only available through E-mail (several hours before a response could be expected) or on the phone (immidiate response). My staff know this and my clients understand this – so far its working a treat.

If I’m in the middle of performing a billable task and I’m interupted, I have to stop the clock for not only the time I’m talking to my “interuptor”, but the time it takes me to get back into a productive state on the task I’m billing for. This can be an additional 15 minutes if the job is something like coding, or hunting a 3 cent error on my latest BAS.

We’ve slowed down on ‘hourly rate’ style work these days, as its not as profitable as “packaged” products or services – however the same rings true. If I’ve budgeted for 100 hours programming a new service and I’m interupted for 5 minutes every ‘i’ hours – i lose ‘i’ x 20 minutes and launch date soon slips.

Since stopping this, I’m still completely contactable however I’m not at everybodies “alt+tab, scroll down, double click, start typing” – meaning they email it and I get to it ASAP oppose to that very second. This has already led to a huge increase in productivity and for no real loss IMO. (except a few mates occasionally calling me to see if I’m still alive :-p)

My 2 cents worth anyways!!

I think perhaps you need to take charge of the technology instead of letting it rule you. Tell your contacts that if you’re flagged “busy” you will not respond. If anyone persists on bugging you while you’re flagged busy, just block them for a while, they’ll get the message.

‘Busy’ is a great state. It means “leave me alone” but also allows you to bug others with questions about whatever it is you’re working on.

There is an allowable detachment with instant messaging which automatically excuses people when they don’t respond. Its not like a telephone where if one side goes silent, its considered very rude. There are a myriad of reasons why someone might delay an instant message conversation whether it be a toilet break, another conversation or simply deep interest in reading a web page.

Really I liken it to a bunch of people in a college computer lab… you might be talking, but you’re also doing something on the PC, and what you’re doing takes priority, the conversation is a side-issue.

BTW, I love the idea of selective visibility on a per-group basis. Nice thought. At least some IM clients allow you to speak while invisible (thereby letting you engage only a privileged person while you hide from others). I wish MSN allowed that.