Multitasking
Morning Edition: The Thief of Time
"To do two things at once," said the Roman sage Publilius Syrus, "is to do neither." And this was 2,000 years ago, long before people tried to drive while talking on their cellphones and digging for tollbooth change and yelling at the kids and (ahem) listening to the radio.
Frank Patrick was looking back through his blog to find this NPR reference from 2001, which includes audio commentary from David Weinberger on the topic.
It is difficult to appreciate the affect of multitasking on personal effectiveness. The fifteen seconds mentioned in the NPR article doesn't sound like much. But the additional evidence of amount of focus and other studies suggests there are complexities with trying to do two things at once that essentially guarantee we won't do either of them well. It is also clear to me and my colleagues that focusing on one activity at a time leads to a much calmer feeling at the end of the day. (But please don't ask to look at all the windows I have open on my desktop just now.)
In projects, multitasking is easier to define. For example: We have three parallel tasks to do, and each takes five days. If I work on each in sequence, I get the first done on the fifth day, the second on the tenth day, and the third on the fifteenth day. However, if I "multitask," and spend one day on each, the first is not completed until day 13, an extra eight days. That starts to look significant.
2 Comment(s)
said:
The essence of the problem with multi-tasking is in your definition of the term and the circumstances where it is dangerous to multi-task.
Specifically, it comes up in discussions of project management where you have multiple resources responsible for multiple tasks. Multi-tasking in this environment is when a person starts task A; stops to work on Task B before completing A; then moves back to A before completing B; etc. This is a guaranteed way to kill a project. It's even worse in multi-project environments.
Walking and chewing gum at the same time is only dangerous for my 18-month-old or for the perpetually uncoordinated.
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Multitasking, is it effective? We all agree that doing too much at once can be a burden on anyone. But, I disagree with mass of people downing multitasking. As a college student I have to manage my time between friends, studies, classes and work to survive. At first I tried to do everything whenever I got the chance to do so. I decided to try to prioritize my time and task. I set up a schedule with multiple areas that I needed to get done. Switching one focus from area to another, at sometimes it’s simultaneously.
I don't consider talking on the phone and driving the same type of multitasking. That is just the life for this day and age. Now, I do believe that you can be ineffective at multitasking if it isn't planned out. Everyone multitasked today. Depending on the individual and how well he/ she can switch one focus to another.
It is true if you could give your undivided attention to any area will get more out of it. Maybe we should take the GPS systems, CD players, and cell phones from anyone driving a vehicle. Oh, don't forget to only allow one passenger per car so no interrupts the drivers focus.
The point is we have to learn to multitask or should we call it multi-priorities our personal lives unless you are satisfied with your current income or social level in this thing we call life.