Focus on Multitasking…
Or don’t. While many of us claim to be highly effective as we monitor e-mail, engage in productive IM sessions with ten different colleagues, write a little code, and participate in a conference call at the same time, it turns out that most of the research does not support this claim. In a New York Times article, “Slow Down, Multitaskers, and Don’t Read in Traffic,” writer Steve Lohr takes a tour of the research on attention and interruption, and finds the news isn’t good for the dedicated multitaskers out there.
Every study noted in this article finds that the human mind does not perform well on simultaneous tasks — whether it’s talking on the cell (even hands-free) and driving, e-mailing and programming, or just pressing the right key and speaking a correct response in a simple experiment.
Okay, that’s fine for old folks like me who are used to working the old-fashioned way, but what about the youth of today who enjoy multitasking to an extreme level — watching a movie whilst writing, IMing and talking on Skype, while talking on their cell phones in the car? Does a younger brain, steeped in manically-paced video games and free of the cobwebs of age, have an advantage? Apparently not:
Recently completed research at the Institute for the Future of the Mind at Oxford University suggests the popular perception is open to question. A group of 18- to 21-year-olds and a group of 35- to 39-year-olds were given 90 seconds to translate images into numbers, using a simple code.
The younger group did 10 percent better when not interrupted. But when both groups were interrupted by a phone call, a cellphone short-text message or an instant message, the older group matched the younger group in speed and accuracy.
Sorry, kids. Multitasking makes you as slow as the oldsters in the office. You know — those people who can remember a time before there were fax machines.
All over the web world, people are going to extreme lengths to keep themselves on task. There’s David Seah’s hysterical yet practical Gauntlet of Productivity. The legions of GTD devotees are constantly working to extract more out of their days. A profusion of tools try to open even more channels of communication with your far flung coworkers, whether they’re Twittering, whiteboarding, e-mailing you on your Palm-Berry, or swooping in and out of your consciousness sui generis.
It turns out that the key may not be better tools for multitasking, but fewer tasks. All of the scientists involved in these studies note that they have changed their own work habits as a result of what their work has uncovered. Their top tips:
1. Check e-mail intentionally, and don’t do it more than once an hour. Research shows that people take about fifteen minutes to recover from a single e-mail interruption.
2. Don’t rely too much on memory. Use the tools like to-do lists (online, multiuser, or paper-based) to unload tasks and ideas from your memory, and then revisit those lists when you’re fully ready to move onto the next task.
3. Don’t do too much. In one study, researchers discovered “…the optimum workload was four to six projects, taking two to five months each.” Focus your efforts on tasks and projects that produce strong revenue, and say no to those that don’t.
And for Pete’s Sake, don’t use your cell phone while driving. You’re better off doing shots before getting in the car. Although you shouldn’t do that either.
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Let me confess, I do not use ‘Twitter’ even though it seems I was in the middle of it (at South by Southwest) when the twittering started taking off.
I personally like moments of silence and do not enjoy constant disruptions.
I do write things down to prevent brain clutter and not forget them.
As for doing only stuff that produces strong revenue, you cannot always tell from the outset.
Patience also creates results.
Take care
Serge
‘The French Guy from New Jersey’
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http://www.njconcierges.com
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a timely article. thanks for the reminder that our attention can only be pulled into so many directions before it starts to disintegrate.
I seem to tweet very differently than others; my friends are viewed purely via rss, and I only pop in when bored, curious, or have something I’d like to say to the listening crowds. I would guess this is roughly 4-10 times a day, tops.
If only I could be so good with email, which I am checking constantly for notices of new memberships, tech requests, answers to questions I have asked, etc. I very much have a slot-machine relationship with email and have had this problem for as long as I have had an email account, with the only difference being that I get a lot more mail now than I did roughly twenty years ago! (ouch, I’m getting old!)
I also think it’s interesting to note the number of projects one can successfull manage at once, and I think it explains a lot to me why I see myself dropping the ball more often than I’d like; I really am trying to do too much at once.
Thanks for the article!
There is no training course I’ve seen to learn how to multitask & the secrets of doing it well. Most of the time people tell you, “Just go do it.”
The best (non-strict) multitasking I was ever shown was to start longer processes that you could run in the background first & then run shorter ones while that one goes. -That and ferocious short-term-memory notation system is crucial to mt.
Test the busiest baristas at Starbucks, career bartenders who work at busy clubs, professional pianists, and professional drummers and you’ll get some very different results from the NYT on humans’ ability to multitask.
I say: up to a point it can be a learned skill and we can be trained for it. -What the NYT is measuring is that people suck at something they’re relatively new and untrained at, that’s all.
btw, I love your site wwd!