The Cranking Widgets Blog - Latest Comments in Switchtasking

Re: Switchtasking

Playa Azul Michoacan — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:59:24 -0000

The book sounds interesting and I would love to read the whole of it. Can you give me an idea how much wit costs?
-M from Mexico

Re: Switchtasking

LJ — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:41:26 -0000

I disagree even with the examples of background tasking being non-multitasking. If you start a piece of machinery to do a job, you are no longer engaged; the machine operates in the background, and is background tasking.
However, any task that requires attention on your part should be considered a possibility for multitasking. For example, eating dinner and watching a show will inevitably lead to inattention to one or the other. How many times have you done something during a meal (read, watch TV, etc) and have no clue what the food tasted like afterward?

Single tasking all the way for me! I experience life much better while I am fully engaged.

Re: Switchtasking

Dave Crenshaw — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:10:38 -0000

Thanks for the link, Bernie.

Turning off email notification is one of the first things we train clients to do when we do a on-site Boot Camp training.

Re: Switchtasking

Bernie — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:50:57 -0000

Hi Dave,

Great post. You know, I did a study with Microsoft research a few years back looking at email overload. Its just a technical report now (http://tinyurl.com/6f67nt), but one ofthe key things I showed was that being overloaded by email was very strongly associated with the use of notifications. These things are terrible - they get in the way and cut into mental flow. We recommended that notifications be turned off by default, but that never made it to product (yet).

I still recommend that people do this. Another thing we discovered was that overflow was not related to when people check email (or oddly enough how much mail they get!), but whether or not they dealt with mail in one pass (good) or cherry picked messages (bad). Filter, clean and focus, rather than check, pick, check, pick.

BERNiE

Re: Switchtasking

tinch72 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:48:57 -0000

i agree, multitasking to me would be like playing the piano with BOTH hands, which I CANNOT do. I can however switch from right hand to left hand and play each part separately!

also, i'm a parent and our kids are constantly asking us AT THE SAME time for things, they are 4 and 2. we are trying to clean, cook, play, etc and they are there asking questions. it's like 3 things coming into our heads at the same time! no wonder why Mommy and I go nuts!!!

Re: Switchtasking

DanGTD — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:36:18 -0000

Nice essay.

Multitasking is not at all effective. It takes your brain around 30 minutes to accomodate to a new context, "get in the zone" and be completely efficient.
If you switch tasks every 10 minutes or so, you can imagine the quality of work that will result, for any of the respective tasks.

Re: Switchtasking

Dave Crenshaw — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:48:05 -0000

Thank you for posting this article, Brett.

Your readers can try a free online test to find out how well they can multitasking at:

http://davecrenshaw.com/exercise.html

All the best,
Dave

Re: Switchtasking

Andre_Kibbe — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:56:51 -0000

Good post. If the prevailing content in the bloggosphere is to be believed, most people have already accepted the concept that multitasking -- rapid refocusing or switchtasking -- is a misnomer an counterproductive.

Can I add a fourth suggestion?

Carry a pen and paper next to whatever you're working on at all times, and write down any though that's not related to your current task. Many people do extra tasks because they don't have a protocol for capturing the impulse, so they feel compelled to do the task in the moment before they forget it. Once you're done with the current task, either do what you've written down, put your notes in your in-basket, or process them into your calendar and action lists.