08. March 2015 · Categories: Apple · Tags:

It seems to be that the main experience from the early adopters of the watch from within Apple is that it gives people time back. Basically because they now can directly respond to any notifications without having to pull their phones out. To me this sounds pretty backwards: you are constantly pulling your phone out because the phone notifies you about tiny details in the same way as about important messages, so you are doing the work of filtering what is important. Anything urgent enough for you to be interrupted is mostly also important enough that you can answer it better with the context the phone can provide you. 

You can already get more time savings than the Watch would provide you by a simple program: 

  1. Establish a phone consulting time, and ignore anything but urgent or prearranged calls outside this time
  2. Ask your callers to text you with details beforehand
  3. Silence the notifications, and set yourself a daily schedule where you process them

This works because instead of shortening the interruptions it greatly reduces their number. Especially sales people, though, could not use it and would benefit from the watch, as their job is to permanently communicate. 

What we really should have is a system where you have your phones act as schedulers in the background, ensuring that you are prepared for your calls, and that we have minimal interruptions. And this is where the watch could actually help, by aiding the phone in telling how good a moment it is to interrupt you.