Multitasking: Productivity Boosteror Mother of All Evil?

Andrew May on the TODAY Show, Channel 9, Sydney



Where did it all go wrong? I remember sitting in a corporate training workshop nearly 10 years ago and the presenter told us that ‘multitasking was an essential skill to survive in the modern era. If you can’t multi task – you’ll get spat out the back of the pack!’ And it made so much sense at the time too. Of course it would be more efficient to do two or three things at once. And surely this would mean we would then be able to tick off every item on our daily To Do Lists and get home on time, or get to the gym earlier, or take the dog for another walk, or maybe even try out that fishing rod I bought 2 years ago but has been sitting in the garage gathering dust... To add even more ‘down time’ to our hectic lives, we would also have a lot more leisure time considering all of the advancements and improvements technology was going to make in the workplace.

Why wouldn’t I be excited? Improved efficiency from multitasking + added leisure time from more efficient use of technology in the workplace = a world that is more relaxed, balanced and a better place to live in...

But where did it all go wrong? Why does the above equation sound so great in theory but so foreign in reality? We have become slaves to the technology that was supposedly going to free us and multitasking just gives us more half finished projects that are added to an already expanding to do list. Sound familiar?

The gadgets designed to enlighten our loads actually ensnare us. The continually binging, buzzing, alarms and alerts readily disrupt our thoughts, our productivity and definitely disrupts what is left of our private lives.

daily disruptions
The average worker gets 1 interruption every 8 minutes, 7 interruptions an hour or 50-60 per day. This can pile up to almost 50% of the average workday. Is it any wonder employees leave the office feeling like they have been super busy, yet not really sure what they have achieved?

I can vouch for this in my previous job working in corporate health. We had an ‘open office policy’ which really resulted in a more apt ‘non-productive office policy’ because workers were continually interrupting each other throughout the day. Reports that should have taken me 30 minutes to write ended up taking half the day with a constant string of interruptions including impromptu meetings, phone calls, people dropping in for a ‘quick question’ and the list goes on and on and on... (now don’t get me wrong – it is essential to be available for phone calls, meetings and impromptu chats – but in set times. It is impossible to be both productive and in control if you have a sign above your work station saying ‘open all hours 24/7’)

The latest research at an information technology office in California showed that once workers were interrupted, it took a staggering 25 minutes on average to return to the original task. Yet we still hold the mantra that multitasking is good for productivity!


epidemic of attention-deficit traits
Dr Edward Hallowell, a psychiatrist in Massachusetts has been witnessing the fallout of multitasking mania: it walks through his doors five days a week. Over the past decade Hallowell has seen a tenfold rise in the number of patients showing symptoms closely related to those of attention-deficit disorder. In a Harvard Business Review article last year, Hallowell coined the term Attention-Deficit Trait, or ADT. ADT takes hold when we get so overloaded with incoming messages and unfinished tasks that we are unable to get clarity or prioritise.

a multitasker’s glossary
Just as the arrival of automobiles ultimately brought us words like rubbernecking, gridlock and road rage, the information age demands new terms for the behaviour it induces. Psychiatrist Edward Hallowell talks about the following new terms:


screen sucking
Wasting time online long after you have finished what you signed on to do. (Example: Still trawling google after you actually found the information you were looking for more than 30 minutes ago).
frazzing
Frantic, ineffective multitasking, typically with the delusion that you are getting a lot done. The quality of the work however is poor. (Example: 3 minute phone call turns into a 15 minute chat – back to writing business plan for 2 minutes – BING! Email alert – you have mail. Respond to email from HR department takes another 5 minutes – then back to business plan – but it takes you 6 or 7 minutes to get back into the thought process again – back writing the plan for 2 minutes and suddenly – BING – RING – DING.....Argggghhhh!)
pizzled
How you feel when someone you’re with pulls out a cell phone or Blackberry and uses it without an explanation or apology. A cross between pissed off and puzzled. (Just read above example over and over)
doomdart
The internal distraction of a forgotten task that pops into your mind when you are doing something else. A side effect of frazzing.

the case for doing one thing at a time
Now for some solutions. I don’t want you getting further and further into this article and feeling deeper and deeper out of control. There is a way out of multitasking mania. And the way out will require a totally different mind set for some people. It involves chunking, energy platforms, prioritising, clear communication and going to email school.

1. chunking
This is not a new term, but for many people it is a new skill. Chunking involves focussing on completing one task at a time, or working on similar tasks together. (Example: Writing all your proposals together, locking out 2 hours to complete a project report, or blocking all your inner city meetings back to back on a Wednesday afternoon. Put a non disturb sign on your office door or work station if you have to).
2. work to your energy platforms
If you are a morning person, block out uninterrupted time in the morning to do proposals, reports, thinking work and high end tasks. The worst thing you can do as a morning person is junk emails first thing you hit the office. And for the bears who blossom later in the day, the morning is probably the best time for you to do emails and lower end thinking tasks – then do the productive activities when your energy levels are high.
3. clear communication
It is essential to explain your new working rules to colleagues and management. Not being available 24/7 is not rude or exclusive – it’s smart! Better still, get your colleagues practising the same method and watch productivity thrive in your organisation.
4. prioritising
Once again this is nothing new. But when we become consumed by the medium it is often very difficult to focus on what needs to be done and what needs to be deleted. Spending 10 to 15 minutes at the start of the working day is a great way to get clarity on the most important tasks that should be completed today. Then control your time as much as possible and focus on your action list.
5. email school
Unfortunately for most workers this never existed! We didn’t learn how to use emails to be productive and efficient. Instead, we have been consumed by the medium and are chained to the Inbox. For a starter, implement the following:
• chunk checking times – only check emails 2 or 3 times throughout the day
• get rid of the ‘you have mail’ alert. This kills thought process and productivity.
• avoid email tennis – any more than 2 emails and you’re still unclear resort to the old fashioned mode of talking on the telephone, or better still – go back to meeting face to face keep email brief and to the point. It’s not a research thesis!
• Stop covering your butt. The cc and bcc is more often than not super unnecessary. Only send emails to relevant people and avoid the email butt covering trail.
• Delete. Get rid of the junk.
• Respond to what’s important. This challenges the values many people were bought up with where we were taught to respond to every phone call, letter etc that comes into your office. Surviving amidst ‘data smog’ requires you to focus on what’s important and leave the rest.

final comment
Some of the suggestions in this article may cause a bit of tension for some readers. That’s fine. This is designed to challenge you to work smarter not harder. To do this some people are going to have to reengineer the way they work. But I guarantee after a few teething problems, if you take on the majority of the recommendations you’ll be amazed at how much control you actually can have over the way you work and the way you spend your time. Gotta fly – have a number of things I have to go and multitask!

Andrew May

Main source: Staying Sharp, Time Magazine, January, 2006