Don't Chew Your Food and Talk At The Same Time

When I sat down for lunch today, I thought about making a few phone calls to "multi-task". Then I stopped myself. First of all, that would be pretty rude to whomever I was talking to. Secondly, I probably wouldn't enjoy my lunch.

So, I relaxed and enjoyed my lunch ( Chicken Katsu ), then made a few calls. My lunch went great, and so did the calls. Now, there's no way to replay life, so I don't know if the combination of activities would have finished faster if I would have decided to multi-task, however studies show that it wouldn't matter. As a matter of fact, according to numerous studies, I made the right choice all around, even from a time to complete standpoint.

I see this happen in organizations all the time. Management puts so many balls in the air, that the only way to juggle everything is to make your resources do 10 ( or more ) different things at a time. Not only is this not fair to your resources, but this strategy is actually backfiring on you. In reality, you're not getting more done, you're just making your team move more. I can personally validate the studies that multitasking is a bad idea.

Part of my success as a project manager, comes from insisting that my teams be able to focus. Focus is a powerful thing. There's a multiplier effect in productivity when any resource is able to focus on one thing. And, there's a logarithmic effect when a whole group is allowed to focus -- no question. The minute people on your team starting splitting time with something else, you get a dramatic loss of productivity.

The key to pulling this off as a manager, is discipline and courage. You have got to prioritize your goals and efforts, and consolidate your resources against the few important things that you need to get done first. After those are done, move down in priority in the same fashion. If you have a small group, only focus on one thing at a time.

This may not sound appealing, but if you're frustrated that nothing is getting done, your team is probably spread too thin. Three consecutive things actually gets done faster than three parallel things. The magic is in the focus.