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Task switching absolutely kills my productivity but I think that may be down to procrastination. I procrastinate more than I would like and once I've gotten mys

by pmx 11y ago

Task switching absolutely kills my productivity but I think that may be down to procrastination. I procrastinate more than I would like and once I've gotten myself going I need to keep momentum. If something kills that momentum - like switching tasks, I'll quickly find myself checking my email or looking on Reddit, PH, or HN again.

frandroid 11y ago
Procrastination is a form of task-switching, you're just switching into things that are less productive. :) I'm trying to improve on that matter too.
falcolas 11y ago
Task switching tends to kill software development productivity, period. My own personal experience mirrors that outlined in the "Human Task Switches Considered Harmful"[0] blog post; interruptions can takes minutes or hours to recover from, leaving me functionally unproductive for this time that I'm re-building my mental context. The OP even admits to this ("That’s not just for the sake of clean audio, but it’s for my own concentration"), they just seem content to accept the lack of attention for most of their tasks. Personally, I've found that I am much more productive when I focus on one task to completion (or to a natural stopping point) and then switch tasks. In series, I can complete a set of tasks in a fraction of the time it would take to complete them in parallel. Also, my colleagues on phone calls tend to appreciate my attention to what they are saying. [0] http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000022.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000022.html
fizixer 11y ago
It's a fallacy to assume if you're not able to task-switch efficiently, there's something wrong with you and nothing to do with the nature of your work. As an example, Feynman would avoid distractions as much as he could, would make excuses to stay away from administrative duties at Caltech to dedicate solid chunks of time to his research work. And when you're thinking in abstractions while programming, interruptions and task-switching is the last thing you could afford in order to stay productive.

by pmx 11y ago

frandroid 11y ago

Procrastination is a form of task-switching, you're just switching into things that are less productive. :) I'm trying to improve on that matter too.

falcolas 11y ago

Task switching tends to kill software development productivity, period. My own personal experience mirrors that outlined in the "Human Task Switches Considered Harmful"[0] blog post; interruptions can takes minutes or hours to recover from, leaving me functionally unproductive for this time that I'm re-building my mental context. The OP even admits to this ("That’s not just for the sake of clean audio, but it’s for my own concentration"), they just seem content to accept the lack of attention for most of their tasks. Personally, I've found that I am much more productive when I focus on one task to completion (or to a natural stopping point) and then switch tasks. In series, I can complete a set of tasks in a fraction of the time it would take to complete them in parallel. Also, my colleagues on phone calls tend to appreciate my attention to what they are saying. [0] http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000022.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000022.html

fizixer 11y ago

It's a fallacy to assume if you're not able to task-switch efficiently, there's something wrong with you and nothing to do with the nature of your work. As an example, Feynman would avoid distractions as much as he could, would make excuses to stay away from administrative duties at Caltech to dedicate solid chunks of time to his research work. And when you're thinking in abstractions while programming, interruptions and task-switching is the last thing you could afford in order to stay productive.