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Project managers take note. There's more evidence that multitasking is doing you (and your project) harm. The latest is from Dave Crenshaw, The Myth of Multitasking: How doing it all gets nothing done. The book is a fast read. And, it comes with Seth Godin's blessing.
Dave has a novel take on multitasking. He doesn't fault all our multitasking behaviors. For instance, background tasking is one where we perform two or more tasks simultaneously however only one of those tasks requires our full attention. I can't think of a set of project management tasks that fits that situation. Can you? Dave goes on to say that the deadliest practice is switchtasking.
He defines switchtasking as
Moving quickly from one task to the other where full attention is required for both.
The result is neither task gets done well. Dave uses a similar exercise to the multitasking exercise I featured in an earlier post. The results are quite similar. Errors are introduced and the total of the two or more tasks takes longer than doing one at a time.
The book is written as an engaging story about an executive who is not effective. In the end she overcomes her multitasking tendencies. I'll finish with a simple lesson we use in a course we teach on making reliable promises. Dave says, "Never commit to something without your calendar in hand." While he doesn't delve into the reasons why, I will. One of the issues of reliability depends on allocating capacity to a task. Without the calendar, we only add the task to our mental to do list. Using the calendar allows us to find and allocate a block of time that will allow us to get the task done.
? Guy Kawasaki wrote, "Less is the new more." Easy to learn: symmetry, seduction, subtraction, and sustainability. Very valuable to do. Step 1: Read Matt's book!! just 140 keystrokes.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
hey Hal,
After responding to your multi-tasking exercise post, and looking at some of your additional references, I think that we’re probably not really in disagreement, but I still think that there’s a lot of value in being more precise in our collective thinking on “multi-tasking”, and in the way that we communicate about it with stakeholders.
If you walk into a room and say “multi-tasking is evil and makes you stupid”, the people (including me) in the room who routinely and successfully balance multiple projects/jobs/children without feeling stupid may look at you like you’re a bit slow in the head, because it’s too broad and simplistic a statement (for the reasons that i stated in my response to your earlier post).
Can we hone in on it a bit more finely? Can we talk about slicing tasks more finely so that resources won’t be tempted to switch mid-task? Can we talk about adding explicit project time for context-switching for resources tasked to multiple projects? Can we talk about multi-tasking as a phenomena that impacts Risk and delivery time and which should be factored in to planning, rather than supposing that it’s something which could ever be eliminated?
AlexJB, et al,
I’m reminded by a comment made by a neurobiologist that got similar reactions to my posts on multitasking. She said, “Pot makes you stupid.” Of course, pot smokers reacted with arguments about long-term effects, contrasts to other recreational pursuits, etc. I followed the argument and her responses. I’ll make some parallel points.
> Multitasking is an choice.
> Multitasking is a habit.
> Multitasking is a coping mechanism.
> Multitasking diminishes performance in the short term.
> Multitasking has a cumulative negative effects in our life.
> Multitasking can lead to more serious negative consequences.
I’m not equating pot smoking with multitasking. I am saying that the prevalence of multitasking in our lives doesn’t make it an acceptable practice. Do the referenced exercise to examine for yourself the negative consequences. Make a choice to minimize switch-tasking. Begin a practice of starting work that is in a condition to be finished. And if you are a project manager, reduce the batch sizes of the work that people are doing. The smaller the batch the less opportunity there’ll be to switch-task.