Nathanb: I set Gaim to just blink the status bar icon when a new message comes in (instead of popping up the full windows). If I'm deep in concentration I just let it blink away, ignoring it.

Having all the developers hang out in an IRC channel is great for this, by the way. General questions can be answered by anyone who happens to be paying attention. If you are busy with something, there will be a conversation log for you to skim through