Distraction is a good technique, but its effectiveness depends on how deeply mired you are in the obsessive/compulsive pattern and how anxious you are. Mundane tasks such as doing the dishes are never distracting enough for me to get me out of an obsessive thought pattern; I need an activity that fully absorbs my attention, such as a long and absorbing conversation with a friend or family member. And even then, it's so difficult to concentrate while ruminating that I'm not always able to engage myself in such an activity.

That's great if doing the dishes works for you and is enough to redirect your mind. Some people will require a more intensive activity, so I think it's good to have a variety of distracting acitivities in your toolkit; maybe make a list of them. If you try something and it's not working, go on to another activity.

An activity is much more likely to successfully distract you from your obsession if it is an activity that does not allow you to think about other things while you're doing it. It's very easy for me to think about other things while I'm doing the dishes or yardwork, but it is very hard for me to think about other things when I am writing or deeply absorbed in conversation.

Distraction is a good technique, but some activities work for some people but not others. I think each person needs to do some trial and error to find activities that are successfully distracting. If you try a few things and they don't work, don't give up. It may just be that you're not engaging in the right activities for redirecting your mind.

I forgot to mention this earlier. Think of distraction as a short-term temporary solution, but not a long-term therapeutic strategy. Distraction can be helpful in managing an episode, but it doesn't get at the root of the problem with OCD. For that, a good therapist and CBT (cognitive-behavioral therapy) and ERP (exposure and response prevention) are the most tried-and-true methods.