PersonalAnalytics-FocusSession

Purpose

This prototype has been developed in relation to the FocusSession master-thesis at the University of Zuerich. Download the thesis here.

Knowledge workers are bombarded with an avalanche of messages each day in various communication channels. These workers commonly feel compelled to promptly answer these messages, which stems from self-imposed and external expectations. These circumstances lead to constant interruptions for the worker, switching between productive applications needed for the current assignment and communication applications, increasing mental disruptions, and even stress experienced.

This prototype aims to reduce communication disruptions and context switches, improving the focus and flow of work on a specific work task.

FocusSession is now a productivity-tool built to support commitment to more distraction-free timeframes of focused work.

If you are a windows user, feel free to give this tool a try :)

You can install it from here.

It is built upon the Personal Analytics Tool, found here.

Installation & Setup

Upon executing the installer, a message from Microsoft Defender SmartScreen might appear. In that case, click "More info" right underneath the text, and then "Run anyway" to continue with the installation.

After a successful installation of FocusSession, a view will appear, containing general information. When clicking Next, you will be able to enable the Office 365 Tracker. This tracker will connect to your office365 mail service, which will track emails received during a focus session, and allows for automatic replies if desired.

A new icon is now present in the taskbar. If not, click on 'show hidden icons', then drag and drop the icon into the visible field.

Utilization

Right-clicking the icon will open the context menu, which is the control panel to the tool's functionality.

Focus Sessions are small units of time, in which you internally commit to focus on a specific task. You can start such a session by running an open session, which will run until you manually stop it, or running a closed session, which will elapse after the defined timeframe. An active session is indicated with an informational icon appearing. When hovering the FocusSession-icon, additional information displays how long the session is, or will be, running.

When starting a focus session, the prototype checks if Microsoft Focus Assist is activated to ensure you do not get interrupted through notifications appearing. Focus Assist can be set on Alarms only when clicking on the action center icon.

When a focus session is active, potentially distracting applications will be flagged. If you specify the flagged application being relevant for the current task, it will be whitelisted throughout the session.

At the session end, a summary window will be displayed. The summary helps guide your attention to which communication applications need to be checked, if any.

Through the context menu, you also reach the settings where you can enable or disable or adjust specific features.

Concluding Notes

That is the essential part of it :) Have fun trying out the prototype; I hope it will help you work more distraction-free on the specific tasks you want to progress.

This prototype's source code can be found in one of the pinned GitHub repositories on my profile page.