In 2024, I was given an opportunity to take over a team that was struggling to deliver meaningful improvements to its product. There were plenty of tickets in the backlog, but few were actually being completed. On top of that, the engineers frequently complained about too many interruptions to focus on planned tasks.
My gut feeling was that these interruptions were the main culprit behind slow deliveries. However, reactive tasks weren’t being tracked—especially when engineers were directly approached for help. To better understand the situation, I worked with the Project Manager to gather data. We began tracking and labeling each engineer’s active tasks, including ad-hoc interruptions, and summarized the data weekly. We didn’t aim to capture everything, just what was actively being worked on. After all, we’re human.
The data confirmed my suspicion: on average, 50% of the team’s time was spent handling reactive tasks, yet they were being assigned tickets as if they had 100% of their time available. This misalignment was a symptom, not the root cause. In any company with customers and cross-functional teams, handling unplanned tasks is inevitable. Everyone needs help at times—no one can succeed alone. (If you think you can, I encourage you to take some time for reflection and gratitude.)
The Root of the Problem
While the Project Manager reorganized the upcoming tickets, I reviewed the ongoing ones. Many tasks marked as “in progress” had been stuck for days or even weeks. When I asked the assignees about their delays, their responses were strikingly similar:
- “I’m waiting for a review.”
- “I need someone to respond to my question.”
- “I’m blocked by someone.”
It became clear that these delays weren’t due to a lack of effort but rather a lack of collaboration. Whether a team works remotely or in the same office, sometimes collaboration needs a little extra encouragement. (That said, I do miss the simplicity of walking up to someone to hash things out!)
Prioritizing Unblocking Others
The team already had daily standups, but like many others I’ve experienced, they had devolved into mere status updates. (I firmly believe status updates belong in tickets.) Then I remembered a lesson the company’s CTO had shared with me early on:
“Because everyone is busy, prioritize unblocking others.”
That advice completely changed how I structured my day. I used to dive straight into my own tasks, often postponing reviews and replies to later—or even the next day. But by doing so, I was inadvertently becoming a blocker myself.
Since then, I’ve made it a priority to handle tasks for others first thing in the morning. I also encouraged my team to adopt this mindset. We started gathering each morning to address support tickets, incidents, questions, code reviews, and even product and technical specs together. It might sound counterintuitive to spend collective time on tasks that could be handled individually, but this approach significantly reduced back-and-forth and ultimately saved time.
Why This Works
No one on the team knows everything. Instead of waiting for the “expert” to be available to answer a support ticket or clarify an obscure code implementation from five years ago, everyone is already in the room. This collaborative approach accelerates resolutions and fosters a stronger sense of teamwork.
Of course, this method isn’t universally applicable. Every organization has its own culture. What matters most is the mindset of prioritizing unblocking others. (I’m also incredibly grateful for a Project Manager who was fully aligned with me on this!)
The Results
This kind of improvement doesn’t yield immediate, drastic results. With the existing pile of support tickets and code reviews—and new tasks constantly coming in—it wasn’t immediately obvious that we were making progress. However, after several weeks of perseverance, the impact became noticeable. The backlog wasn’t as overwhelming as before, even though the incoming workload remained steady. One engineer, who had previously been vocal about frustrations, remarked that support tickets felt far more manageable. I joked, “Well, a house stays clean if you sweep it every day.”
By fostering a mindset of unblocking others, we created a more collaborative, efficient, and ultimately more productive team. So, what small step can you take today to unblock someone else?
anggorodewanto.com 
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