The high cost of switching

Cam Collins, President and CEO, DockMaster Software — I anxiously awaited the arrival of my new iPad. It was the first time I pre-ordered new technology, ever! In anticipation of its arrival I was thinking about “focus” (one of my three words for 2010). The iPad can only do one thing at a time. You can’t surf the web while checking e-mail. It’s one or the other and there are advantages to this single-threaded interface.

Those close to me know that “focus” can be a challenge as I have to work hard to stay focused. You can label it Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), remnants of preadolescence impulsivity or just the fact that we live in a world of “hyper-distraction.” But staying focused is harder for many of us today than it was for our ancestors. These days we find ourselves tethered to our iPhones and Blackberrys scanning e-mails, checking Facebook and texting friends and colleagues while at the kid’s soccer game. (Remember: “Wherever you are be there?” I forget it all the time).

Habits are hard to change, especially those we’ve done for years. For instance, most of us believe that we can effectively multitask. Sure we can chew gum and walk, but when it comes to intellectually challenging stuff I stand by the notion that multitasking doesn’t work. That’s because it is humanly impossible to simultaneously harbor two conscious thoughts in your brain at exactly the same time. Sure you can unload the dishwasher and talk on the phone. Because unloading the dishwasher is a relatively “mindless” function. But if you were to notice a crack in a dish, your mind would focus on that. How did it crack? Was it cracked before it went into the dishwasher or did it break during cleansing?

For things that require mental effort what we are really doing is time slicing. We are “switching” our thoughts from one thing to another rapidly — thus creating the illusion that we can multitask.

How many times have you picked up the phone to take a call in the middle of reading e-mail? At first you might be focused on the call, but as the conversation begins to wind down you start focusing on e-mail again. Guess what? The person on the other end of the phone can usually tell when you’ve mentally checked out. I do this to people when they call me from time to time and it is ineffective and inconsiderate.

These pie charts show the effect that interruptions (represented in green) can have on your thought process. When you are taken off task it takes some time to mentally pull away, pay attention to something (or someone) else and then refocus back on that task. Depending on the level of complexity the “refocusing” stage can be time consuming, especially if you are in the midst of doing something creative or highly technical.

In his book “The Myth of Multitasking,” David Crenshaw shows how to minimize interruptions by coworkers and how to deal with distracting electronic communications such as e-mail and phone messages. I am not advocating you lock yourself in a cave and accept food rations under the door. But I do recommend setting aside times in the day for concentrating on projects or tasks. These times should be periods in which you can’t be interrupted unless the building is on fire.