Does multi-tasking = reduced productivity?

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Dan Hill points to Jack Vinson and asks us to consider if multi-tasking is, in fact, a mask to hide our non-productivity.

Says Dan:

For these reasons that I have really begun seeing in the past few weeks, I am giving up on multitasking. Moving to a model that is more like:

Job in
Job allocated a time to be done with full attention
Requester informed of where their job is in my scheme of things
Job done
If circumstances change, everyone gets contacted with an update. People tend to be more forgiving than you would think provided they know the full story and feel that you appreciate them. Over the past week or so since I have been really been adopting this model, the effects have been very encouraging.

I know from my own experience that the teachings of many success gurus about ‘do the most important thing and stick with it until its done, then do the next most important thing’ is the only way I get anything done. Juggling eighteen balls in the air at once is not my best skill — it could be argued that its a male thing, or it could simply be my own personal trait.

Tagged as: tools