Requesting an interruption

I pinged Jeff today on Skype and he informed me that he couldn't chat because he was on the phone with Don. I had to laugh because this was just the scenario we discussed in our conversation on what an Agile Team Dashboard might be.

In any case it got me thinking about how one team member should request the attention of another. When I pinged Jeff he messaged me that he was on with Don, but I should have been able to see that before I ever pinged him.

Assuming that you have the information about what the other team member is doing (on the phone with Don, for example) then rather than bothering the other team member (Jeff) I should have been able to request a meeting with Jeff that sat in a queue until Jeff was available. At the point where Jeff becomes available, the system should inform him that there is a request for his attention and then he could be offered a chance to follow up on it immediately or "snooze" the request (to be able to run to the bathroom between long calls for example). Today for example, I chatted Jeff to call me when he was done with Don and I never heard back from him so I'm assuming he either got tied up all day or forgot. The Agile Team Dashboard (ATD) could have helped by reminding him of my request when the call with Don ended. Of course the ATD will have to be able to tolerate drops and reconnects and you don't want it to be a pain in the ass so some nuance is necessary.

Any thougts or comments?

Stories ("As an ATD user I can"):

• Request a connection with another team member even while they are occupied so that we can hook up easily and efficiently.
• Receive requests for a connection and easily defer them so that other team members will be informed that I won't be available.
• Receive requests for a connection and be notified of the request when I become available so that I don't forget the requests.