Product and Project Management

the key to context switching

It seems I have built a career out of being able to “context switch” with minimal fuss, well that is at least what most people call it.

There is an illusion we tell ourselves that we are multitasking.  The reality is that our brains are not wired for multitasking.

It is more that our brains are good at rapidly shifting focus between different tasks e.g. task-switching.

I seem to be good at focussing on one task at a time but then shifting that focus efficiently to another unrelated task with minimal wastage or hangover (debatable after a weekend) from the previous task.

I took some time to think how is that I do this well?  Here is what I came up with.

Just Enough Structure

I have just enough structured focused sessions with multiple customers, to ensure predictability and surety.  Not just for the customer but for myself too.  I try and plan these for the same blocks of time each day/week.

Depending on the needs my structured time is probably 30% of my time a day.

That leaves me 70% of my time for unstructured, unpredictable events, such as urgent requests, escalations, ad-hoc huddles etc.

Of course, unstructured events can happen at any time, the trick is that I have just enough structure there to minimise their occurrence.  Also having just enough structure means that I can pivot if needed to an event without losing to much momentum.

Chunking

Chunking is somewhat of an art, with some science sprinkled in.  I have become good at breaking down most of what I need to do, so that it can be achieved in small focussed sessions.  This requires a fair amount of my brain power, but I have honed this skill for decades now.

Prioritisation

I prioritise reasonably well.  I certainly haven’t prioritised my entire workload, but I have become good at knowing where I need to be in about a week’s time and I work backwards from that to prioritise my work on how to get there.  Again this is somewhat art and science mixed together.

Master of my tools

One thing I am forever grateful for is being a master of the tools I have at my disposal.  Whatever they are, the more you use them the more efficient you will become at task switching and working at speed.

I don’t subscribe to any time management techniques.  I have tried all of them and they don’t work for me.

The simple things that I have listed out above seem to be what works well for me.

To be successful across multiple customer engagements all at once is to ensure you have an intentional focus and efficient transitions.

At the end of the day, the customer should always be your primary focus!