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November 27, 2005

Multi-Tasking - The Enemy of Personal Productivity

If you multi-task your way through the day, when evening comes you may find it difficult to figure out what you actually accomplished. Multi-tasking, a skill frequently requested by prospective employers, is the enemy to personal productivity according to Paul Chin in his article "Unplugged: Information Overload Requires a Human Solution."

Chin states that "Technology alone won't solve all your personal productivity and information overload problems - it can only ease them." He also says that "Time management and personal productivity is a behavioral process; no software can teach you this." We need to take control of our behavior, our "internal causes" of personal unproductivity such as:

• Obsessive need to be "plugged in" such as constantly checking e-mail or calling the office
  
• Poor attention span and lack of focus
  
• Rampant multitasking and the inability to prioritize tasks
  

Of course, one of the reasons that librarians are proud of their multi-tasking abilities is because interruptions are impossible to avoid in this line of work, and responsiveness is most definitely highly valued. This puts us at high risk for information overload. But if you're proud of the fact that you respond to all emails within 30 seconds of receiving them, regardless of importance, you may need a 10-step plan to get you to prioritize and take control of your work.

I'm trying to do my part. Until Outlook can tell the difference between spam and an urgent message from my boss I'm keeping the darn preview/alert feature turned off. I'm not ready to turn off the vibrate feature on my Blackberry yet, though I'm trying hard to learn to ignore it. We've all got to take these things one day at a time.

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