Split focus wrecks projects and careers

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I once hit a car that suddenly changed lanes. The driver apologized and explained they had been fussing with their cat. You can’t make this stuff up. Split focus wrecks more than cars though...

To be honest, I’ve taken my eyes off the road many times too. One time I was changing the volume on my car radio and promptly rammed my BMW Z4 into the person in front of me.

Turns out it’s kind of hard to do more than one thing at a time. Especially if those things require focus. And if some of those things are important it’s a recipe for disaster.

Sometimes the disaster is obvious and instantaneous. You usually know when you’ve been in a car accident. And if my collision with our feline friend was fatal, it might have made the news.

But many disasters unfold slowly and in the background. Like work projects that end up dead in the water due to a lack of focus.

The real cause of death is not the people but the approach. Context switching is a killer and split focus assassinates productivity.

Research suggests that what looks like harmless multitasking can result in insidious switching costs that consume up to 40 percent of your productive time.

Do you care about the work?
Don't multitask.

Do you care about the project?
Limit the work in progress.

Do you care about the team?
Protect their time.

https://davidreinecke.com