The Danger of Multitasking in Projects

In this podcast, Ricardo talks about the danger of performing multiple tasks without understanding the implications. He explains that we must always consider the residual time between tasks and the real time (or Takt Time) of each task. The Takt Time concept, according to the www.businessdictionary.com, is an adjustable time unit used in lean production to synchronize the rate of production with the rate of demand. Computed by dividing available production by the number of items to be produced, takt time provides a precise rhythm to run an entire process sequence that maximizes efficiency whereas minimizing wastes. Although popularized by the Japanese, takt time is a German term which refers to rhythm or beat of music.

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Episode transcript

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Hello everybody welcome to the five minutes BM podcast today ILAC to discuss the moot task in many, many people think, okay. Multitasking is the new trend. You know, the future is a mood task based environment. So what we do. We start doing all sorts of things at the same time in, we have a core belief that this is a way of demonstrate productivity, and this is what I want to challenge you. Because when we think about Multitasking let's suppose I have two tasks, a and B okay.

A takes two days and B takes three days. OK. And I'm the only resource of doing this two tasks. So if I do one after the other, it will be two days for task a and three days, four task beat. But then I decided to do a different way because they don't have any physical relationship. I decided to start both at the same time and now we'll be splitting my time. So what I will do instead of spending two days fully focused on a and three days, fully focus on B what I will do, I will split my time.

So I'll spend a half of the first day on tasks, a half of the first day on task be. And so instead of two days on task eight, I will do it on for days, three days on six days or not on six, because at the end I can recover it. But look at this in a mathematical way, could make no difference, but lets understand the technical weigh. Every time you change a task from one task to another, there is a setup time mince to set up your mindset and to set up your work.

So in this time, is it time that you lose from the time of this occasion? So when you imagine the tech time, the tech time is the time that you were really spending on the desk it's as lower because everyday you were switching. So that way,

Speaker 1 (2m 0s): I suppose that it takes a one hour for you to switch two, one office to another one,

Speaker 0 (2m 5s): Electricals a and B it will be done in to different places. So this tax time we will have a sacrifice, okay?

Speaker 1 (2m 13s): Because it will be smaller than if you do

Speaker 0 (2m 15s): Everything on task a before you move to task be. But there's a lot of, of, and see if people get so anxious about doing things that they want to start a lot of different fronts at the same time. And this is extremely risky because you imagine that you can be more productive, but in reality, you're losing your productivity. So eating possible to be a hundred percent Multitasking because when we do a lot of Multitasking, we are just shifting between different tasks in quick, in a small interval of time, stay five minutes of doing this three minutes to doing this for five minutes of doing that.

And you think that you are doing everything, but you are doing everything in a pace because your changing and that you are only stressing up your project. So when you think about it a project, and when you think about N that will be S work item. Think about how I can get from the beginning to the end and close that door or that work to move to the next one. And I am sure that this will improve because then all the setup time, this concentration time will be reduced.

So let's suppose for me, when I'm recording a podcast, every time I record the Portuguese, I record the English version almost together because I speak on the top of my mind and why? Because of my setup time, because every time I need to record a podcast, I need to find a quiet place. I don't have a studio, so I need to find a quiet place. I need to make sure that I have batteries and everything. So this, if I can record, it would be perfect. If I could record something like a hundred podcasts in the day, but then I will damage because I don't have this inspiration to record a hundred, but many times I recorded one episode or two episodes at the same time, because this will reduce all the setup time.

And it will be more productive than for example, a recording the Portuguese version in the morning and the English version in the afternoon, because all the setup, I will need to do it again. And then I will lose my productivity. So you need now to change your mind mindset, when you think about Multitasking because the software helps you a lot of getting this, this behavior of doing everything in reality, you are not Multitasking. You were just stressing the process, stress in your team to do less.

So this is, this is the basic concept I want to share with you when we think about Multitasking into a project environment. And to be honest, not only in the project environment, but the actual your lives. So if we can see that and do the work in one time, all to sit up, we'll go down to your stress level will go down and you reach better results. Think about that then to see you next week with another five minutes BM Podcast.

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