Interrupt Coalescing

A computing technique where, instead of processing every interrupt (notification, request, signal) immediately as it arrives, the system batches multiple interrupts and processes them together at scheduled intervals. This dramatically reduces the overhead of context-switching while only slightly delaying response. Applied to knowledge work: instead of responding to every email, message, and notification as it arrives (high context-switching cost), batch them into scheduled processing windows. The trade-off: slightly delayed response for dramatically increased productive focus.

When to use it

When frequent interruptions are preventing deep work; when email, Slack, and notifications consume more productive time than the communications themselves warrant; when designing team communication norms; when context-switching costs are degrading output quality.

How it can help

Implement interrupt coalescing in your workflow: check email at 3 scheduled times rather than continuously, batch Slack responses into 30-minute windows, group meetings on specific days rather than scattering them. The interrupt cost in knowledge work is enormous: research shows it takes 23 minutes to fully re-engage after an interruption. If you're interrupted 10 times a day, that's nearly 4 hours of lost depth. Coalescing doesn't eliminate interrupts—it batches them to minimize the context-switching overhead. Set expectations: 'I respond to non-urgent messages within 2 hours' rather than within 2 minutes.