I admit that I actually pause to think, 'Delegate, record, or do.' It helps me focus on what I'm going to do with this person who is, alas, breaking my focus. The following sections provide more detail about this process.
Delegate it
If you have set up a mutual interruption shield as discussed in the opening of Chapter 1, you can refer the person to your shield partner. You don't have to say, 'I'm sorry, but this is my project time, so I'm going to shove you on someone else.' You can say it very politely.
Since people need a visual, positive confirmation that they've been heard and taken seriously, I think the best technique is to pick up the phone and call your shield partner to delegate the request while the customer watches. People don't want to have to re-explain themselves to each person they get delegated to, so I always try to explain the issue to the delegate. I can often explain it in technical terms, which is more efficient than the customer's original request.
Here's the general form: I say out loud, 'Ah, let me ask Mary to do this' (I pick up the phone and dial Mary). 'Hi, Mary. Joe is here. He needs X and Y. I'm sending him over to you.' I look at the customer and say, 'Stop by Mary's office, and she'll help you.' Now Joe has received excellent acknowledgement of his request, and Mary is prepared to handle the task.
Tip
As technically inclined people, we often forget what it's like to be a nontechnical customer making a request. It may have been difficult, and possibly scary, to figure out how to phrase the request, so taking the time to explain it to Mary in your language makes it easier for Joe.
Sometimes the request is rather complicated, and I don't want to risk the miscommunication I can introduce by repeating a request incorrectly. However, I can still help focus the issue. For example, 'Hi, Mary. Joe is here. He has a rather complicated request related to the web server. I'm going to send him over to you right now.'
Of course, there are times when you are in a hurry and just can't call Mary. I think it is obnoxious to answer a request with a question like, 'Did you talk with Mary?' A better way to express this is to simply say, 'Mary is on call right now. Could you speak to her about this?' It sounds more official and orderly. People find a certain comfort to following an official process.
If your coworker says she doesn't know how to do the task you are trying to delegate to her, you have a few different options. You can use this as an opportunity to teach her how to do the task. That way, she'll know how to do it in the future. Otherwise, you might ask the customer if the task can wait—if it can, record it.
Record it
If the task can wait, you can record it for later action. Record it in a place where it won't get lost. Make sure the customer sees you record the request so that he has visible confirmation that he isn't being ignored.
If you use The Cycle System, as described in Chapter 5, enter the request into your to do list. This is appropriate for smaller tasks that will be done soon.
For larger tasks, my favorite place to record a request is in a request-tracker application. I've found that the open source tool RT by Best Practical (http://www.BestPractical.com) is better than a lot of the commercial systems around. (O'Reilly recently published a book called
To make sure that the customer sees me taking action, I say out loud, 'Let me record this in my to do list so I don't forget,' or 'Let me create an RT entry.' Then as you type the message, speak what you are typing. 'Jill needs a new printer installed. It is in the box just inside her office. She needs it by this Thursday at 9 a.m.'
Warning
Always record a time in your deadline. A Thursday deadlinecan lead to trouble when a customer assumes you meant Thursday morning, but you actually meant Thursday close of business.
I then turn to the customer, who has heard what I've typed, and say, 'Anything else I should capture?' This helps eliminate miscommunication. It also gives them the satisfaction of thinking that they're in control—which they are, sort of.
After clicking submit, send, or whatever the software requires, say something reassuring like, 'I got it!' and return to the work you were doing before you were interrupted. Recording the request in RT, a PDA, or a to do list system shows professionalism
