"What was I just doing?""What was I just talking about?"How many times have you been happily working away on something, creating value, just a wonderful productive piece of a great masterful universe then ... you are interrupted.A phone call, an email, someone nearby sneezes, your attention is diverted.Then ... what happened? What was I doing?This is the Zeigarnik effect in action. We were doing something normal, something not out-of-the-ordinary. And now we don't remember it.This is sometimes funny, usually frustrating, often embarrassing - even when no one is around to witness it.But this is a real problem. When people ask us "how long will this take?" we answer not realizing that all these little forgotten moments are in no way included in our response. Our estimate is based on the best of intentions and with all professionalism, but these become blind spots.There are a few easy ways to mitigate this.1. Track true completion times on your Personal Kanban. Include date / time started and date / time completed on your tickets. This will include interruptions.2. Estimate based on how long the project or task took to get from OPTIONS to DONE ... not how long the task itself took. A three hour task that takes you four days to complete is a four day task, not a three hour one. (Is this a problem for budgeting? You bet it is.)3. Write down tasks that you don't realize you are doing. Sound crazy? Yes ... it is crazy. But we often catch ourselves doing things that aren't on our boards. We laugh it off, but these tasks are often autonomic - they're just things we do. We need to be mindful of them.