Breaking the Flow: A Study of Interruptions During Software Engineering Activities
Open accessAbstract
In software engineering, interruptions during tasks can have significant implications for productivity and well-being. While previous studies have investigated the effect of interruptions on productivity, to the best of our knowledge, no prior work has yet distinguished the effect of different types of interruptions on software engineering activities.
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Higher variations in HRV indicate greater frustration during task execution.
“Higher variations in HRV indicate greater frustration during task execution [6].”
From How do Copilot Suggestions Impact Developers' Frustration and Productivity? (2025) · cites this paper as [6]
Section 4.2 (page unavailable) interprets increases in the HRV measures SDNN and RMSSD as indicating *decreased* stress, contrary to the claimed direction. The paper assesses stress rather than establishing a relationship between HRV and frustration. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredInterruptions significantly increase stress levels.
“Indeed, Ma et al. [6] showed that interruptions significantly increase stress levels, interrupt cognitive flow, and lengthen task completion times.”
From How do Copilot Suggestions Impact Developers' Frustration and Productivity? (2025) · cites this paper as [6]
Section 4.3 reports significantly higher self-reported stress during in-person interruptions than during on-screen interruptions. The claim overgeneralizes that finding: the comparison is between interruption types, and the Conclusion reports that physiological measures indicated reduced stress during in-person interruptions. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredInterruptions interrupt cognitive flow.
“Indeed, Ma et al. [6] showed that interruptions significantly increase stress levels, interrupt cognitive flow, and lengthen task completion times.”
From How do Copilot Suggestions Impact Developers' Frustration and Productivity? (2025) · cites this paper as [6]
The Introduction says some developers may be distracted by interruptions and have difficulty resuming work, which supports the idea of disrupted focus. It frames this as a possibility, however, rather than reporting a finding that interruptions disrupt cognitive flow. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredInterruptions lengthen task completion times.
“Indeed, Ma et al. [6] showed that interruptions significantly increase stress levels, interrupt cognitive flow, and lengthen task completion times.”
From How do Copilot Suggestions Impact Developers' Frustration and Productivity? (2025) · cites this paper as [6]
The Code Comprehension section reports that two specific on-screen interruptions significantly increased time spent on a problem compared with no interruption. It also reports no significant effect for in-person interruptions, while the Code Review finding describes varied effects on task duration. The unqualified claim that interruptions lengthen task completion times is broader than these results. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe many suggestions continuously provided by AIDTS might be perceived as interruptions that require attention, evaluation, and action.
“On the other hand, the many suggestions continuously provided by the tool might be perceived as interruptions [6] that require attention, evaluation, and action.”
From How do Copilot Suggestions Impact Developers' Frustration and Productivity? (2025) · cites this paper as [6]
A combination of in-person and on-screen interruptions influenced productivity during code review.
“and a combination of in-person and on-screen interruptions influenced productivity during code review.”
From How do Copilot Suggestions Impact Developers' Frustration and Productivity? (2025) · cites this paper as Ma et al. [6]
Interruptions during code writing are associated with greater stress than other tasks.
“The study finds that interruptions during code writing are associated with greater stress than other tasks.”
From How do Copilot Suggestions Impact Developers' Frustration and Productivity? (2025) · cites this paper as Ma et al. [6]
High dominance on screen interruptions significantly increased the time required for code comprehension.
“the study revealed that high dominance on screen interruptions significantly increased the time required for code comprehension”
From How do Copilot Suggestions Impact Developers' Frustration and Productivity? (2025) · cites this paper as Ma et al. [6]
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- Authors
- Ma, Y., Huang, Y., & Leach, K.
- Affiliations
- Duke University (US)
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the IEEE/ACM 46th International Conference on Software Engineering
- Publisher
- ACM
- Published
- 2024-04-12
- Pages
- 1-12
- ISSN
- 0270-5257 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4394746232
- Cited by
- 12
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 1
- FWCI
- 13.52
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering: Companion Proceedings (ICSE-Companion) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (2211429)
- Vanderbilt University
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Personal Information Management and User Behavior
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Software Engineering Techniques and Practices
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Software Engineering Research
- Keywords
- interruptions, task flow, productivity, developer well-being
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