One reasonable way to handle that is an oncall rotation. Designate someone to be interrupted often, and only that person has the mechanism (often another channel, like actual phone call or special interruption/notification rule) to interrupt others on the team if they need help urgently.
The only time I enable IM and e-mail notifications is when I have “office hours” on my calendar, and I’m explicitly available to people.
One reasonable way to handle that is an oncall rotation. Designate someone to be interrupted often, and only that person has the mechanism (often another channel, like actual phone call or special interruption/notification rule) to interrupt others on the team if they need help urgently.
The only time I enable IM and e-mail notifications is when I have “office hours” on my calendar, and I’m explicitly available to people.