More on Multitasking...

Here is another email comment on the multitasking discussion, this time from Management Craft reader Michele:

Hi Lisa –

First – let me say that I love your blog/website/books … and have enjoyed (and shared with many!!) these e-mails tremendously!

Onto specifics …WOW … this response really resonated with me, and not in an entirely positive way (he has good points, but it doesn't address multi tasking!). What Dave is describing is part of my profession … and it's called Lean Thinking!  Yes – not a new idea, made famous by Toyota, fostered in this country by James Womack and the great minds at the Lean Enterprise Institute.

Lean, as most of us have learned, is the systematic and continuous identification and elimination of waste.  What could be more wasteful than sitting around doing nothing while you're waiting for a process to finish?  On this I agree!!  However, in today's world, the operational definition of "multitasking" is a far cry from that of "Lean" – multitasking is the ability of a person to perform more than one task at the same time.  How many meetings have you attended where you are so focused on your Blackberry that you miss a critical portion of the discussion?  How many times have you tried to complete tasks while participating on conference calls?  What was the quality of your participation/output for each of those?  Could it have been better if you had been focused?

I believe that the raging inefficiencies in Corporate America (exactly why do we meet 49 times to discuss the same topic without any progress???!?!!!!???) have led many of us to multitask – because it is one of the few ways we have to "eliminate waste" in our jobs …. But realistically, this useful multitasking has crept into areas where it is doing more harm than good.

I personally am tired of 24/7 e-mail/IM/cell phone contact.  None of that is nearly as important as taking the time to connect with our colleagues, friends, family, and environment – and giving them the respect of focus and participation in the current moment.  In business, I vote for focus, active participation, accountability, and rapid deployment of solutions.  Personally, I vote for watching a peaceful sunrise with my husband, listening to the birds swooshing over the water, drinking in the stillness of the new day any time … Blackberry be damned!

Kind regards,
Michele

Thanks for your comment, Michele! I am with you about the Blackberries and similar tools.

One thing I have not said before, but believe, is that there are some differences in how we handle switchtasking, as Dave Crenshaw calls it. Some of us are better at it than others based on our habits, skills, and natural tendencies BUT - and this is an important BUT - even the best switchers are reducing their potential focus and productivity.

And Michele's main point is important. Let's not skimp on how we connect with the people who are important to us.

As we head into the weekend, consider making this a no technology weekend - or a no multitaking weekend!

Comments

[Dave Crenshaw]

Ha! I loved Michele's phrase: "… Blackberry be damned!"

I reminded me of a recent Time review of "The Myth of Multitasking" where the Andrea Sachs wrote, "So put down that damn BlackBerry, as it were."

(http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1846739,00.html)

Apparently the word "damn" and "Blackberry" are becoming more and more juxtaposed these days!

Thanks for continuing to spread the word, Lisa.

-Dave Crenshaw