For ADHD minds, dysfunction isn’t a mild inconvenience. It doesn’t just irritate, it exhausts. Each small friction point in the workplace becomes a magnifier: what looks like a harmless delay or a harmless error to others compounds into something far heavier. The mental load of holding focus against the grain of broken systems isn’t just frustrating — it’s draining.
Every office has its villains. Some hide in plain sight as “collaboration platforms.” Tools like Microsoft Teams and SharePoint, designed to streamline work, have instead become monuments to unnecessary complexity. For most workers they’re an annoyance; for ADHD professionals, they’re an active drain on cognitive energy.
Scenario: The Tool That Won’t Behave
Situation
A product analyst logs into Microsoft Teams to share a document. What should be a simple upload collapses into chaos: SharePoint insists the file is locked “by another user,” Teams throws conflicting error messages, and the interface buries the one option she needs three menus deep.
Impact
Instead of a five-minute task, her entire morning derails. ADHD focus frays under the constant switching between tabs, channels, and permissions prompts. Each “are you sure?” dialog is another paper cut to her concentration.
Tension
The absurdity builds. She tries to rename the file, but Teams won’t refresh. She emails herself a copy, only to discover colleagues are now editing different versions. A task designed for collaboration becomes a case study in confusion.
Approach
Determined, she fights back — refreshing browsers, re-logging, Googling fixes. But every attempted workaround splinters attention further. What should have been progress has become a wrestling match with a tool designed to help her.
Resolution
The file eventually gets shared, but the victory is hollow. The platform is satisfied, but she’s drained — no focus left for the deep work that actually matters. Dysfunction hasn’t just stolen her time; it’s hijacked her energy.
When Dysfunction Doubles Down
Executive function is often described as a limited budget. For ADHD professionals, that budget is tighter from the start. Russell Barkley’s work on self-regulation explains this as the strain of holding goals in working memory while resisting interference. Every time Teams throws up another “please log in again” prompt, it isn’t just a click — it’s another withdrawal from that budget.
In practice, this is task interference stacked on task interference. A tool like Teams doesn’t just demand action; it constantly shifts the frame of action. The result is what Donald Norman, in The Design of Everyday Things, calls a “gulf of execution” — the gap between intent and outcome. For neurotypical users, that gap is an annoyance. For ADHD professionals, it’s a cliff edge.
This is how dysfunction doubles down. The system is broken, so the task takes longer. But it also eats through focus reserves more quickly. By the end, the work is done, but the user feels defeated. It’s not a win; it’s attrition.
The Real Cost: Energy, Not Just Time
Workplace metrics tend to focus on time: hours logged, tasks completed, deadlines hit. But ADHD professionals don’t just lose time — they lose energy. Roy Baumeister’s research on “ego depletion” shows that focus operates like a muscle that tires with use. Every pointless prompt, every wasted step, speeds up that fatigue.
Cognitive load theory, developed by John Sweller, adds another layer. He distinguishes between essential load (the work required to solve the problem) and extraneous load (distractions that have nothing to do with the problem). SharePoint specialises in the latter: redundant confirmations, vague error codes, clumsy permissions. For ADHD minds, already stretched thin, that extra load lands harder.
So when a manager shrugs off a glitch as “just a hiccup,” they miss the real story. The task might only have cost ten extra minutes on the clock, but it burned through an afternoon’s worth of focus. Dysfunction isn’t just stealing time; it’s stealing momentum.
It’s Not You, It’s the System
ADHD is often framed as an internal deficit — even the diagnostic manuals lean that way. But design and systems theory tell us something different: the environment shapes the behaviour it enables. If the environment is dysfunctional, it amplifies the struggle. That’s not indulgence, it’s basic ergonomics of cognition.
Norman reminds us that good systems “make things visible.” They reduce the need for memory, interpretation, or guesswork. Teams and SharePoint frequently do the opposite — burying core functions in labyrinthine menus, throwing jargon in place of clarity. For ADHD users, each hidden step isn’t just a nuisance, it’s another demand to reset attention.
Seen through this lens, the exhaustion stops being personal shame and becomes systemic critique. ADHD professionals aren’t failing the tool; the tool is failing them. Once that’s clear, the story shifts. The struggle isn’t proof of weakness. It’s evidence that the environment itself is mis-designed.
Conclusion
ADHD doesn’t need another productivity hack or a pep talk about grit. What it needs is recognition that the problem isn’t always the mind, but the environment. Tools like Teams and SharePoint, designed to help, too often end up hijacking focus instead. They don’t just waste minutes; they erode the limited energy that makes meaningful work possible.
The critical shift is seeing this not as weakness but as evidence. If broken systems consistently drain ADHD professionals more than they serve them, the conclusion is obvious: the systems are the problem. By naming dysfunction clearly, we turn vague frustration into sharp awareness. And awareness is where change begins.
So the next time a simple task leaves you exhausted, remember this: it isn’t proof that you’re failing. It’s proof that the system is. The focus isn’t lost forever — but it will stay hijacked until we start holding our tools to account.
Behavioural Principles
Surviving Hostile Tools
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Every click costs energy
Seemingly small frictions compound into major drains for ADHD minds. -
Broken systems double the burden
A glitch is never neutral — it magnifies executive dysfunction. -
Energy is the hidden currency
The real loss isn’t minutes, it’s the momentum that fuels meaningful work. -
Environment shapes exhaustion
Tools that obscure actions and multiply steps create hostile conditions for focus. -
Frustration is evidence, not weakness
ADHD struggles don’t prove personal failure — they reveal systemic design flaws. -
Naming dysfunction restores clarity
By calling it out, vague frustration turns into usable awareness.
