This document describes a master's thesis that proposes an approach called FocusSession to help knowledge workers improve their focus during specific timeframes by reducing context switches from interruptions. It begins by motivating the problem of interruptions costing time and reducing productivity. The approach identifies concepts like creating single task focus sessions, minimizing interruptions through notification suppression and application awareness using a window flagger, managing expectations with automated replies, and providing attention guidance with focus session summaries. These concepts were implemented in a prototype and evaluated preliminarily with 3 participants, finding it was usable and helped focus duration and awareness of context switches, though effects on focus were unclear. Insights from the evaluation suggest improving window flagging options, adding a learning algorithm

1. FocusSession
An approach to keep knowledge workers' attention
on their task
Master Thesis by Philip Hofmann
Supervised by
Prof. Dr. Thomas Fritz
Dr. André N. Meyer
15.10.2020
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2. Motivating Example
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Me, working on a task Interrupting
Message
Colleague
Expects fast response
Time lost on task
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Context Switch

3. Motivating Example
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Me, working on a task Interrupting
Message
Colleague
Expects fast response
Time lost on task
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Context Switch
costs vs obligation

4. High Costs of Interruptions
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Higher Stress [Mark’08]
Increase the likelihood of
errors being made [Brumby’19]
$588 billion per annum in the
United States [Spira’05]
15 - 25 min recovery time
[DeMarco’87][Mark’08]

5. Interruption minimization
5
Self-initiated InterruptionsExternal Interruptions
Logos: try.batchedinbox.com // francescocirillo.com // chrome.google.com/webstore/
Batching
Emails
Indicating availability
Time management
Website blockers
+ Higher rated productivity
+ Decreased interruptions
- Physical system
installation
- Predefined fix time
period
+ Increased perceived productivity
- More stress, less in control

6. Research Question
How can we develop an approach to assist knowledge workers with
improving their focus during a specific timeframe by simultaneously
reducing the number of context switches?
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7. Approach Overview
7
Identify set of concepts
Develop Prototype
Preliminary Evaluation
Insights
used in
leads to
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used to

8. Approach Overview
8
Identify set of concepts
Develop Prototype
Preliminary Evaluation
Insights
used to
used in
leads to
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9. Concepts & Implementation
9
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1. Single Task Focus
Single task commitment
Not restricted to 25 min
Full control
Work for a specific
time period

10. Concepts & Implementation
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1. Single Task Focus -> Focus Session: Open | Closed

11. Concepts & Implementation
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1. Single Task Focus -> Focus Session: Open | Closed
2. Interruption Minimization
Emails
Updates
EmailsEmails
Notifications Updates
Emails
Notifications

12. Concepts & Implementation
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1. Single Task Focus -> Focus Session: Open | Closed
2. Interruption Minimization -> Notification Suppression

13. Concepts & Implementation
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1. Single Task Focus -> Focus Session: Open | Closed
2. Interruption Minimization -> Notification Suppression
3. Application Awareness
BlockingAwareness Blocking

14. Concepts & Implementation
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1. Single Task Focus -> Focus Session: Open | Closed
2. Interruption Minimization -> Notification Suppression
3. Application Awareness -> Window Flagger

15. Concepts & Implementation
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1. Single Task Focus -> Focus Session: Open | Closed
2. Interruption Minimization -> Notification Suppression
3. Application Awareness -> Window Flagger
List of potentially distracting applications
[YouTube, Instagram, Slack, Yahoo, reddit, Tumblr, Netflix, Twitter, …]

16. 1. Single Task Focus -> Focus Session: Open | Closed
2. Interruption Minimization -> Notification Suppression
3. Application Awareness -> Window Flagger
Concepts & Implementation
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Whitelist for current session
Whitelisted for current focus session Application will be flagged again

17. Concepts & Implementation
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1. Single Task Focus -> Focus Session: Open | Closed
2. Interruption Minimization -> Notification Suppression
3. Application Awareness -> Window Flagger
4. Expectation Management
Expectations
“ … the social norm that surrounds email use is primarily what causes it
to be a burden. The informants commonly expressed that there is a
norm or expectation that the email recipient will respond to an email
quickly.” [Mark’12]

18. Concepts & Implementation
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1. Single Task Focus -> Focus Session: Open | Closed
2. Interruption Minimization -> Notification Suppression
3. Application Awareness -> Window Flagger
4. Expectation Management -> Automated Reply Message
Email Instant-
Messaging

19. Concepts & Implementation
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1. Single Task Focus -> Focus Session: Open | Closed
2. Interruption Minimization -> Notification Suppression
3. Application Awareness -> Window Flagger
4. Expectation Management -> Automated Reply Message

20. Concepts & Implementation
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1. Single Task Focus -> Focus Session: Open | Closed
2. Interruption Minimization -> Notification Suppression
3. Application Awareness -> Window Flagger
4. Expectation Management -> Automated Reply Message
Email Instant-
Messaging

21. Concepts & Implementation
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1. Single Task Focus -> Focus Session: Open | Closed
2. Interruption Minimization -> Notification Suppression
3. Application Awareness -> Window Flagger
4. Expectation Management -> Automated Reply Message
5. Attention Guidance -> Focus Session Summary

22. Interruption minimization
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Self-initiated InterruptionsExternal Interruptions
Logos: try.batchedinbox.com // francescocirillo.com // chrome.google.com/webstore/
Batching
Emails
Indicating availability
Time management
Website blockers
+ Higher rated productivity
+ Decreased interruptions
- Physical system
installation
- Predefined fix time
period
+ Increased perceived productivity
- More stress - less in control
FocusSession
Integrate all approaches
Good parts & Extension
Physical system installation no physical system
Only predefined fixed time period open focus session
User being less in control full control

23. Approach Overview
23
Identify set of concepts
Develop Prototype
Preliminary Evaluation
Insights
used to
used in
leads to
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24. Approach Overview
24
Identify set of concepts
Develop Prototype
Preliminary Evaluation
Insights
used to
used in
leads to
Icons: FlatIcon.com

25. Preliminary evaluation: Purpose
How well does FocusSession run on the participant's system and can it be used in their
everyday work life?
Does this prototype improve the participant's focus during a specific timeframe by
simultaneously reducing the number of context switches? (RQ)
Based on the participant's feedback, can we get ideas for improvements or future
research?
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26. Preliminary evaluation
3 participants
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27. Preliminary evaluation
Transcribed & Open Coded
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28. Approach Overview
28
Identify set of concepts
Develop Prototype
Preliminary Evaluation
Insights
used to
used in
leads to
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29. A note on small-scale evaluations
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Preliminary evaluation
Small Sample Size
Insights
Study
Large Sample Size
Results
Cannot make definitive statements. Observations can give clues to interesting areas.

30. Insights: Usage
How well does FocusSession run on the participant’s system and can it be used in their
everyday work life?
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31. Insights: Usage
All 3 participants used FocusSession for their work-tasks.
P1 used FocusSession while being at a customers place.
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Participant 1 2 3
Days used 3 6 5
Sessions 6 9 9
There were not really any problems, it worked really well [...]
it worked perfectly well and was a great tool to use for me
because I am always very easily distracted.

32. Insights: Focus
Does this prototype improve the participant’s focus during a specific timeframe by
simultaneously reducing the number of context switches? (RQ)
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33. Insights: Focus
Observations:
Focus improvement: conflicting statements
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34. Insights: Focus
[...] it just helped me focus even better and more because I knew, I should.
Yes, [...] I just could better focus because I knew, I wanted to, [...]
[...] I didn't feel like suddenly I was focussing better [...]
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35. Insights: Focus Duration
Observations:
Focus improvement: conflicting statements
Seems to positively affect focus duration
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36. Preliminary evaluation: Insight
[...] I had only an hour because then it would be lunch break, [...] it gave me like a little goal, [...] towards the end I
was like okay, I have 10 more minutes, I could [...] read something on the internet, but then I realized, wait I have
my focus session still on [...] I can still do this or this small task, so it was actually kind of motivating [...] I will be
focussing until then [...]
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37. Insights: Context Switches Awareness
I would notice if I started switching between applications and it would warn me about
certain applications and I would realize 'oh wait a moment, I am doing something else
than what I should be, or what I was planning on doing [...]
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38. Insights: Context Switches Reduction
[...] it helped me when I wanted it to help me, but it was very easy to ignore, but
maybe that is also good because you don't want it to be annoying.
[...] if I really wanted to be distracted I just go for it, [...] the good thing about the
thing is you have to be honest to yourself [...]
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39. Insights: Context Switches Reduction
Out of 18 non-task related switches, 13 switches
to non-distracting applications were made after
the window flagger message appeared.
> 70%
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40. Insights: Feedback
Based on the participant’s feedback, can we get ideas for improvements or future
research?
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41. Insights: Window Flagger Options
- Additional Window Flagger Option: Time based task-relatedness
[...] the window flagger thing where it asks is this relevant for your task ... sometimes it
felt too binary for me [...] I would have liked a third button where it says like 'yes this is
important for my task for the next 5 or 10 minutes' so it would ask me again later on [...]
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42. Insights: Learning Algorithm
- Learning algorithm that suggests applications to whitelist or blacklist
for the window flagger
[...] one area that I would find interesting to explore [...] is a learning algorithm [...] it
learns my habits, especially which apps that I use frequently [...] it would say 'hey we
noticed that you used this app a lot during your focus sessions is this something that you
use for work' [...] and I could then add it
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43. Insights: Breaks
- Automatic break times within active sessions
[...] what would be maybe even cooler if there would be some expansion on the
different times you could choose, and then even if you could, you know if you could
customize it all, for example, going an hour, and then, it says, you know, 10 minutes
break, for example, and then it starts again [...]
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44. Discussion and Future Work
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Profiles
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45. Profiles
3 Participants, different usages.
Profiles in set-up
Communicator: Relies heavily on communication application usage. Time-based task relatedness
and learning algorithms. Let the user choose from a large list of communication applications, where
the user can choose whitelisting and integration for expectation management.
Researcher: Long session options with automatic breaks enabled. Let the user set ideal break time
occurrence and length. Activate a large list of potentially distracting new sites or social media sites.
Independent: Shorter sessions, focus on shorter sessions with task-labeling, maybe include planner
to pre-define sessions and breaks which will run automatically.
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46. Discussion and Future Work
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Goals
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47. Goals
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1
From the interviews, it seems that participants were more motivated when having a goal to achieve
[...] the good thing about the closed session I think was that it gave me like a little goal [...]
If I used the open one, I would be less motivated to stay concentrated [...] I just would dwindle off [...] a
closed focus session was more helpful in that way, to really concentrate until the time is up, and then take
a break.
[...] it was really motivating to see ah I did some, two hours or fifteen minutes or anything, or how much I
did during the week or even in a month [...] it gave me motivation [...] helped me look at the bright side
and see how much I did and that was great.
Extend on this notion, and include a pre-labeling of a session with its purpose or goal to achieve
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48. FocusSession
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49. Backup Slides
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50. Sessions Modes: Total Same Amount
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51. Definitions : Interruption
An event that causes a stoppage or break in the continuity of a task
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52. Definitions: Task
A piece of work that needs to be done
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53. Definitions: Focus
Attention given to a particular activity
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54. Definitions: Attention
The act or state of applying the mind to something. Describes a selective narrowing of
consciousness.
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55. Definitions: Context Switch
The cognitive load that is needed to process switching from one topic to another
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56. Definitions: Knowledge worker
Those who possess, utilise and create valuable knowledge [P. Drucker]
“an employee whose job involves developing and using knowledge rather than
producing goods or services” [Cambridge Dictionary]
“Schools are like consulting businesses. The students are knowledge workers, organized
into teams to analyze and solve problems, in the process demonstrating their mastery of
valuable learning standards.” [EdSource]
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57. Recovery time
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58. Recovery time after an interruption
“Solingen [36] characterizes interruptions at several industrial software companies and
observed that an hour a day was spent managing interruptions, and developers typically
required 15 minutes to recover from an interruption“ [Parnin’11]
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59. Recovery time after an interruption
“DeMarco reports that the recovery time after a phone call is at least 15 minutes. Even
though we could not measure recovery time exactly, we believe this estimate to be
valid.” [Solingen’98]
- initially included a metric to measure recovery time but the variable proved to be
too difficult to measure so they emitted it after the first measurement period
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60. Recovery time after an interruption
"Unfortunately, you can’t turn on flow like a switch. It takes a slow descent
into the subject, requiring 15 minutes or more of concentration before the
state is locked in. During this immersion period,[...] Each time
you’re interrupted, you require an additional immersion period to get back
into flow."
"If the average incoming phone call takes five minutes and your reimmersion
period is fifteen minutes, the total cost of that call in flow time (work time)
lost is twenty minutes."[DeMarco’87]
- Immersion period = reimmersion period? Example that interruption costs more time than just
the interruption period itself (5 min phone call)
In the case that your reimmersion period were fifteen minutes, the total cost were ...
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61. Recovery time after an interruption
“How long does it take people to get back on task?
We found about 82 percent of all interrupted work is resumed on the same day. But here’s the bad
news — it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task.” [Mark’08]
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