Context-Switching vs. Multitasking: Postpone Clean Work vs. a Messy Mind

This morning, I read Dwayne Phillips' A New Writing Project at Home. I have the same problem, although my independent consulting book is NOT YET DONE. (Those capitals are for me, not you.) The book isn't done yet because I'm waiting for other people (indexer, cover designer, layout person) to finish their work. (At some point, a book uses a serial lifecycle.)

However, I am not starting another book yet. Instead, I am doing other work that I can complete in relatively small chunks at any one time. Yes, I am context-switching. But I'm not multitasking.

That's because I can pick up a new task, finish enough of it, and then postpone the remaining parts of this project to the future. I'm not incurring the typical costs of multitasking because every time I finish some work, I leave it in a clean state. If I think I know the next steps, I can leave myself breadcrumbs for those steps—but I often don't need to.

Every project's clean state means I don't clutter my mind. I do switch contexts and leave the work clean. I do not multitask and leave myself with a messy mind.

This is my personal take on both Manage Interruptions with Defensive Project Portfolio Management and Three Secrets to Manage Multitasking Even When More Senior People Insist.

Principles for Clean Work Context Switching

Here are the principles I use to keep my work clean when I context-switch.

• Visualize all my work. You can't sequence it if you don't know it exists.
• Right-size the work, either with the work size or the duration of the work. (I tend to my work into 30- to 90-minute chunks. That's my right size.)
• Make sure the work is clean when you stop. If necessary, I do less work in a given timebox, just to make sure I leave the work clean.
• If the work is bigger than I thought, decide what to do. This is when I might do less, or rank this work higher for my next available timebox. But I choose what to do. I don't blindly continue this work.

Multitasking creates messes in our minds, with unfinished bits of work.

Instead, with judicious context-switching, we can make sequential progress on several projects. Only if we keep the work clean and postpone the next piece of work until the next appropriate time.

And now, I'm off to read proofs for the consulting book.

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