I just read an excellent article related to an entry I recently made, which was followed up by Mike here.
I tend to agree with the viewpoint that it takes 3 hours of individual concentration to get anything done (in general). Although I, and my work, have benefitted significantly from interactive like work as Mike suggests, I think the 3 hours of uninterrupted focus suggested in the article, are a great way to get things done, as long as you can avoid what he calls "warp-offs." Which is my key obstacle to overcome. I think I am going to make a concerted effort to catch myself right before I do this, and take that energy and re-apply it to my work. I may even keep a log for a few days so I can find what is usually the trigger of the warp-offs. I guess this means no gaim, no irc, and no email.
Apparently before I got a chance to flesh out this entry, Slashdot got a hold of it and now the site is running a little slow. But I swear I saw it first, on someone elses blog. :-)