No Multitasking
Wed., October 5, 05:03 PM
It’s almost three years since I wrote about attention deficit disorder versus the concept of multitasking. Usually, I ignore the people who can’t see the connection. But when someone writes a book, well, no wonder Mr. Nookyuler can get away with calling this country a “dum-ocracy.”
I listen to the radio a lot. I may have mentioned that a few times. WQUN is my kind of station, mostly music – my kind of music, of course – with lots of local news and informational pieces. News from the world of medicine, or AARP, or Biography for the Radio. And a daily piece called Something You Should Know. Some of the are informational and some are not worth listening to; occasionally one of them makes me mad.
They were promoting a new book – which I will not dignify by linking. It’s one of those books that are supposed to make you a more effective worker. “Just concentrate on one job at a time,” advises the author. “What about multitasking?” asks the interviewer. “It doesn’t exist,” replies Mr. Know-It-All, “you have only one mind.”
Oh, really? And when you have a child or two crying and the dinner is boiling over on the stove, how do you handle it? He wasn’t asked, of course, but he would probably answer something to the effect that women’s work doesn’t count as important tasks. As we all know, women who stay at home multitask all the time, simply because that’s the way the world is. The business world is the same, if you’re not wearing blinders.
Many projects – if not all of them – include waiting time. For example, if parts are to be painted before they’re assembled, you have to wait for the paint to dry. Effective project managers separate the tasks into units, and often a unit from one job can be worked during the wait for another. It’s a skill that becomes increasingly important as companies downsize; the alternative is to build in extra capacity. Workers who spend time doing nothing until the next job appears are an outrage to cost managers.
Consider my dumb job as a legal secretary a couple of weeks ago. Bosslawyer works in fits and starts. He’ll hand me five files to work on, and then leave me enough time to do ten (because he still has no concept of how fast computers work). I usually choose to concentrate on the ones that will produce income. Suddenly, we have to do a mailing, and this is time-sensitive because of an upcoming event. (I don’t handle his calendar, so I seldom am aware of what’s coming.) DROP EVERYTHING! We – that is, I – have to produce a flyer. He also wants to include three pages of additional information.
The first part of distribution is easy; I have a couple of group e-mail lists. But there are still about a hundred people who haven’t supplied e-mail addresses. That means envelopes to label, pages to be copied, folded and stuffed. I brought home four hours worth of work, which I completed on my “day off.” Yes, I charged him for the hours – including time to buy stamps and the cost of the stamps – and I reminded him that I am an anachronism. Most places with a mailing of this type outsource at least part of the job.
Oh, yes, I also completed the other work that appeared that week. Along with producing legal forms, I’ve been doing more and more original work, like writing letters and drafting motions. I am a multitasker, y’know.
Next time, maybe I’ll try to explain why I’m still working this job.
