The only thing that works for me is separating things into very distinct "realms" and only having one realm open at a time. No exceptions.
For example one realm is for communication. Slack, Browser, Email, and Calendar can be open. Nothing is really a distraction from anything else here. I'm just being "at work" and communicating in this mode.
Another is for coding. Literally the only things open are vim and a terminal. NO browser and NO Slack. If I need documentation then I didn't design well enough, and design is it's own realm. I should know the libraries I'm using, and anything else is easily handled by vim's autocomplete/intellisense or navigating to the code.
The other two explicit realms are Writing and Design/Planning. There are more adhoc ones, but I really try to avoid adhoc-ness.
Switching realms is a hassle and requires super deliberate action. This means I can't just randomly switch between tabs and code and Slack and email and social media and just...kinda looking at things? That was my main problem. It was too easy to "move" and so I could never stop moving and somehow the entire day was gone. At no point was I goofing off, but my day just disappeared.
The only issue is that work people really really want my dot to be green on Slack at all times. They even give me the room to be on my own, but literally just having Slack open is a weird attention drain and I don't really know how to convey that. This leads to me getting most of my work done after hours and working way too long :/
This series of videos by Airforce Col. Mark D. Jacobsen may be helpful:
"Tools for the Life of the Mind. These videos are intended to help my students at the Air Force's School of Advanced Air & Space Studies (SAASS) develop effective mindsets and workflows for doing rigorous academic work. I will introduce a range of available tools and discuss my own workflows. Although SAASS-focused, they should appeal to anyone interested in productivity and learning."
Do you have any tips for how you structure your digital workspace? Favourite tools or methods to help support your executive functioning?