This is literally the problem with interruptions and open-office floor plans for knowledge workers. There's no effing way we're all ADHD-addled goldfish. Decades ago my senior cube-mate liked to tell non-engineers who walked into our cube asking questions unannounced: "like I tell my wife, we're in here balancing a stack of plates in our heads, and you just walked in here and knocked them all down."

You're right about it being a house of cards, and the industry isn't doing us any favors selecting for people who can chat about it vs. arrange the metaphorical cards high and get the hard things done.