Katie Hafner has a story today on one of those subjects that makes me want to scream. (Image from Hackvan.Com.)

It's about "pseudo-ADD" and continuing efforts by employers to make knowledge workers pay closer attention to what they're doing.

If they really want to help they should stop interrupting us with meetings, with memoes, and (sometimes) with bosses poking their heads in our doors to see how we're getting on.

Two can play the distraction game. But wait, there's more.

First, the label. Real ADD (which I have) doesn't just mean distraction. It brings with it an ability to "hyper-focus" on areas of real interest. I frequently come up from my desk after several hours' work, thinking I've been at it only a few minutes, and I find an incredible amount has been done while I was "away."

Second. The idea that knowledge workers will work harder, or better, if distractions are eliminated is, frankly, bogus.

There's a reason why we get up, why we multi-task, why we distract ourselves with the cubicle scenery or our hangnails. (Oh, look! Kitty!)

It's the mind at work. Force our attention back to the page and we're liable to start looking at the space between the letters after a while. It won't improve productivity.

The best cure for knowledge worker productivity is better work. And there's a limit to how much "productivity" you can pull out of people. What looks like distracted behavior may be the mind looking for a new way around the problem at hand.

The best ideas often do come in the shower.