Interruptions by office pests could be consigned to history now that scientists have invented a warning light that shows when workers are "in the zone" and should not be disturbed.
FlowLight was invented by computer scientist Thomas Fritz, who noticed that program writers often placed a traffic cone on their desks when they wanted to be left alone.
The light switches between green and red, based on keyboard and mouse activity.
When it senses a steady flow of typing, indicative that someone is engrossed in a task, it switches to red. When there is little, or only sporadic activity, it switches back to green so that colleagues know it is safe to approach.
"When you're interrupted, it can take a long time to get back into your work," said Fritz, an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada.
The light was tested with about 450 employees from engineering firm ABB with positive results.
Not only did they report fewer interruptions, the light changed office culture so that people were more respectful of each other's time and aware of when they could interrupt a colleague.
Some employees even reported that the lights motivated them to finish their work faster.
Fritz is now working on a more advanced version that uses biometric sensors to detect heart rate , pupil dilation and even brainwave activity.
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