Bulldozer00's Blog

The best graphic I’ve ever seen on the inefficiency of multitasking comes via one of my long-time mentors from afar, Mr. Gerry Weinberg.

Even though some level of multitasking is pragmatically required once in awhile for getting things done, some orgs explicitly put multiturding up on a pedestal as a desired skill to be developed and honed. In these types of orgs, if you have multiple titles, roles, projects, etc, going on at the same time, you’re probably in the good graces of your bosses and a prime candidate for promotion. Plus, you get to pump up your annual appraisal form with a boatload of (half-assed) “accomplishments“.

As a test to see if you’re a member of an org that’s hooked on multiturding, try telling your boss that you’d like to work on one project at a time – and then observe the response. Also, observe the feelings that arise within you before you make the request – if you do indeed make the request.

Related articles

• Beware Employees Who Boast About Multitasking (business.time.com)
• The myth of multitasking (smartplanet.com)
• If You Think You’re Good at Multitasking – You Probably Aren’t (richandco.wordpress.com)
• Frequent Multitaskers Aren’t Good At Multitasking, Study Shows (huffingtonpost.com)
• So, you think you can multitask? – Social Grad (thesocialgrad.wordpress.com)