{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/make-interruption-policy-stricter-as-cognitive-load-rises",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0465",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Make interruption policy stricter as cognitive load rises",
  "summary": "An interruption that costs ten seconds in email can cost much more inside a fragile mental model.",
  "kind": "principle",
  "body": "Classify work by resumption cost. Allow more interruptions during routine tasks and protect periods that require keeping multiple dependencies, hypotheses or transformations active at once. Use task complexity—not status or mood—as the reason for stronger focus protection.",
  "limits": [
    "High-load work can still need collaboration; protect attention without isolating yourself from necessary information."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "union-attention-offloading-interruptions"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-06B73D42C7B14628"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "Interruption effects differ by the type of primary task, suggesting that interruption policy should be stricter for high-cognitive-load work than for routine work.",
      "source_id": "RS-06B73D42C7B14628",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "Task categories in laboratory studies do not map perfectly onto every workplace activity.",
      "locator": "Subgroup findings by task type"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "The same notification policy is used for routine admin and high-load reasoning work."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "High-load work can still need collaboration; protect attention without isolating yourself from necessary information."
  ],
  "example": "Answer routine tickets with chat visible; debug a multi-system data issue with only the incident channel allowed through.",
  "check": "Interruption settings change with expected resumption cost rather than staying identical all day.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-06B73D42C7B14628",
      "title": "Effects of interventions to reduce the negative consequences of interruptions on task performance: A systematic review, meta-analysis, and narrative synthesis of laboratory studies",
      "url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003687021001538"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "from": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0465",
      "to": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0466",
      "type": "useful_with",
      "url": "/knowledge/turn-communication-checking-into-a-scheduled-task"
    }
  ],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-EDAA3E3B504F92AA",
      "title": "Protect attention while using external memory on purpose",
      "url": "/collections/protect-attention-while-using-external-memory-on-purpose"
    }
  ]
}