How do I reduce interruptions?

Notifications off, one tab open, and a clear signal that you are unavailable. The hard part is doing it consistently, not knowing how — so protect the habit, not just the hour.

Should I estimate the task with or without interruptions?

Estimate the focused work first, then add your interruption buffer on top. Keeping them separate lets you see both how big the task is and how much your environment is costing you.

Mibbi Blog · 2026-04-14

How to Account for Interruptions in Your Estimates

Pretending interruptions will not happen makes every estimate wrong before you start. Account for them honestly and your day stops feeling like a series of small failures. They are part of the work, so estimate them in.

Track interruption rate for a week

Count interruptions per work block for a week. Most people land somewhere between three and eight per hour, which is far more than they would have guessed.

That number is your interruption baseline. Once you can see it, you can estimate against it instead of around it.

Build a 20-30% interruption buffer

For tasks done in interrupt-prone places — open offices, shared homes, on-call rotations — add 20 to 30 percent to the focused estimate.

A task that takes 60 focused minutes really takes 75 to 80 in a noisy environment. That extra time is the honest number, not a weakness.

Block protected time for hard tasks

Some tasks simply cannot survive interruption — the restart cost is too high. Put those in calendar blocks where interrupting you is socially expensive.

Protecting two hours a day for deep work often does more for your output than any clever estimate.

Differentiate self- and other-interruption

Self-interruption — checking your phone, switching tabs, chasing a stray thought — is the bigger chunk for most people. Naming it is the first step to shrinking it.

For anyone with ADHD and time blindness, the self-interruptions are also the ones that quietly devour an hour without registering as time spent.

Let a tool carry the buffer for you

You do not have to remember to add the buffer every time. Mibbi Estimate returns a realistic time range that already accounts for the switching and friction interruptions create.

So a "30 minute" task comes back as "40 to 55 minutes" — the version that survives a real, interrupted day.

Try it with Mibbi Estimate

Guess how long things might take.

Open Mibbi Estimate

FAQ

How do I reduce interruptions?: Notifications off, one tab open, and a clear signal that you are unavailable. The hard part is doing it consistently, not knowing how — so protect the habit, not just the hour.
Should I estimate the task with or without interruptions?: Estimate the focused work first, then add your interruption buffer on top. Keeping them separate lets you see both how big the task is and how much your environment is costing you.