They can reach me via IM, phone, webex, etc. Initiating communication this way (maybe excluding IM) is somewhat more formal than face to face chatting. This gives the initiator more incentive try to work out their own problems first without bugging me (and that's great). If they truly need me for something, I'm happy to oblige. The casual face-to-face "do you have a minute" interruptions are the ones that really kill productivity.

I'd like to respond to some of your other comments:

If I had to endure a culture where this was acceptable:

> Why aren't you answering your phone? Why haven't you responded to that email I sent you 5 minutes ago? Are you even at your computer right now? Hello???

I wouldn't work there for very long. This mentality of "butts must be in chairs" flies against the notion that software engineers are professionals and should be treated as such. This nagging is a great way to lead to a broken, angry engineer.

That said, I agree with your premise:

> Team productiviy > your individual productivity. It's that simple. Do you think your team members interrupt you just for the fun of it? No, they interrupt you because they need your help to accomplish something.

But there is a fine line between nagging and actual necessary interruptions that is deepened by remote work. Asking a professional why haven't they responded to the email you sent 5 minutes ago, to me, is crossing the line and if everyone on the team has to endure that kind of behavior then individual and team productivity will both suffer. I've experienced being micromanaged and it's terrible and it's definitely not conducive to my productivity. The rest of the team seemed the same way and thus the team productivity suffered as well. Creative thinkers need uninterrupted time to plan, think, and execute.