The Myth of Multitasking

Rachel Salaman: And that's not an effective way to work?

Dave Crenshaw: No, because what happens is that you are occurring switching cost and what switching cost is, it's a term that I borrowed from finance and economics but basically it is the extra cost in terms of time and effort and sometimes even money to make a transition from one thing to the next. For instance, if I'm using one cell phone provider and I switch to another cell phone provider, the cost is greater than just getting a new phone, right? I have to learn how to read the bill, I have to learn how to use the new voicemail and so on. It's the same thing when I am switching back and forth between checking the messages on my phone and answering email or trying to sit in a meeting when I'm text messaging from my phone. When I'm switching back and forth, I'm incurring lots of little bits of switching cost and that adds up to a whole lot of lost time and productivity in a day.

Rachel Salaman: How much time is actually lost through switch tasking?

Dave Crenshaw: It does depend largely on the task that you are switching from. On average I will see people take about 50% to even twice as long when switch tasking. Now, obviously, your entire day isn't spent in switch tasking, or at least I hope it isn't. The estimates that I have seen, in fact, this one comes from a company called Basex research out of New York, finds that the average knowledge worker loses 28% of their work day. They use the term interruptions on recovery time for interruptions, it's the same thing as switches and switching cost and that's a significant, significant cost. That's at least an entire work week every single month is spent just in switches. That's tremendous to me.

The problem is, the evidence isn't in changing people's behavior, so I don't really view myself as an academic expert in this field, more I'm the evangelist of the message and the aggregator of all of this message and really putting it into a practical application situation that says hey, when we're multitasking we think we're getting more done but what we're really doing is we're getting the opposite result of what we want to get and then I'm helping people apply practical ways to combat this addictive behavior that we have.

Rachel Salaman: And we'll talk about some of those in a moment but what are some other common myths around multitasking? I mentioned the one about women and men in the introduction.

Dave Crenshaw: Well along with that there's the teenagers versus adults, right. Teens can multitask but adults can't. I hear those a lot and the biggest thing is it's just a matter of math. It doesn't matter how effective you are at multitasking, truly some people are faster at making switches than others and I might even say that women are faster than men at making the switch but it doesn't change the fact that you are incurring switching costs so when someone says that they are really good at multitasking, what I tell them is that they are really good at using a less effective method for getting things done.

Rachel Salaman: Well your book, The Myth of Multitasking, is an easy-to-read business fable about a CEO who is run ragged and is being coached by someone who sounds a bit like you. How much is the book based on your own real life experiences?

Dave Crenshaw: That's a great question. It is based 100 percent on my real life experiences. Really, and I think I say this somewhere in the introduction to the back end of the book, the stories that are in The Myth of Multitasking are really the combination of hundreds of clients that I've worked with personally through the years, so when we're talking about a CEO who is working 190 hours a week to fit into a 168 hour week, I actually had that experience with the CEO or someone who thinks they're spending time with their family but really they are just spending time in the presence of their family. As I wrote that, I was thinking of specific people that I've worked with through the years and even occasionally myself because I used to be a horrendous multitasker and it was something that I had to overcome myself so that I could learn how to help my clients be more productive with their time.

Rachel Salaman: Well the coach in the book takes the CEO, who is a woman called Helen, through various exercises. Could you explain one that is particularly useful, it's the one that suggests that switch tasking is an inefficient way of working?

Dave Crenshaw: Sure. What it is, is essentially Phil, who is the character in the book, has Helen and her assistant go through an exercise where they recopy the phrase 'Multitasking is worse than a lie' and in fact, with your permission, I can share that exercise with the listeners, would you like me to do that?

Rachel Salaman: Yes, please, it's very useful I think.

Dave Crenshaw: Okay, if they go to, we'll set up a special link, if they go to www.davecrenshaw.com/mindtools, we will make that exercise available for free for your listeners. It's a simple exercise of just copying numbers and letters back and forth, they are recopying the phrase 'Multitasking is worse than a lie'. The first time they go through it they'll do it without switch tasking and see what their result is and then the second time they'll do it with switch tasking* and in just a matter of about two minutes you are going to see very, very quickly the impact that switch tasking is having on your day, even if you think that you're a good multitasker.

Rachel Salaman: In your experience, how much of a problem is switch tasking in the average workplace?

Dave Crenshaw: I think it's chronic and persistent. It is a horrible, horrible issue in the workplace and the reason is that we have been taught culturally for about 15 years now that multitasking is the way to go, that it is the way to get things done, the way to be more effective when in fact it's giving us the opposite of what we want but when you see job descriptions that say I need a good multitasker, or you hear CEOs who brag about 'oh I'm excellent at multitasking', that just over and over reinforces this perception that it is very effective.

You know, I know at the risk of offending someone who is inclined to smoke, it sort of reminds me of what you saw maybe in the 40s and the 50s in the movies, you saw people smoking a lot and no one thought there was any sort of health disadvantage from that and then the research started coming out but it still took a while for the research to really get hold and people realize that it is a behavior that has negative consequences. I think we're at that point with multitasking where the research has come out that it has got lots of negative consequences but people haven't quite decided that they want to alter their behavior, simply because they are so accustomed to the idea that they should be multitasking.

Rachel Salaman: As you mentioned earlier, the whole issue is confused by this idea that younger people can switch tasks very effectively. In fact, one of our previous guests on Expert Interview was singing the praises of switch tasking in the context of younger workers. Do you think it is ever a useful way of working?

Dave Crenshaw: Well, that's a great question and it is why I make a distinction between switch tasking and background tasking. So rather than just calling everything multitasking, I've really split it into two categories. Switch tasking is when you are trying to do two or more tasks that require effort and attention simultaneously, background tasking though is when you do something mindless or mundane in the background that doesn't require your attention while you perform another task. A few examples may be running the copy machine on a large print job while you answer email or perhaps even jogging on the treadmill while you're watching TV.

Background tasking can be a very effective way to use your time, the problem is most people aren't making a conscious decision about whether they are background tasking or switch tasking and most of the time when they refer to multitasking they are really referring to switch tasking.

Rachel Salaman: So we should consciously distinguish between switch tasking and background tasking and seek to do more background tasking to save time, is that right?

Dave Crenshaw: Absolutely. One question that I hear a lot of is driving while talking on your mobile phone and they say is that a good thing or a bad thing? Well, certainly it is not wise to do that in a crowded environment, there have been studies in fact just in my back yard, the University of Utah has some noted studies which show that driving while intoxicated is as dangerous as driving while talking on a cell phone or I guess I could have said that the other way round but you get the idea, but there's a big difference between background tasking and switching tasking even in that context because the reason why it is so dangerous is because it slows your reaction speed to things so if I'm driving on a long deserted stretch of road and there are no decisions to be made, then it may be perfectly appropriate for me to talk on the cell phone because now it's a background tasking situation but if I'm driving through the city talking on a mobile, that is the perfect example of switch tasking and I am going to increase dramatically the likelihood that I'm going to get in an accident, make a mistake, miss my route, whatever it is.

Rachel Salaman: So how do we know which tasks are right for background tasking?

Dave Crenshaw: Well that's a great question, I think it's just a matter of asking yourself is this thing going on without my attention or is this going to require my attention? And if I'm trying to do two things at the same time that require attention, it's always not going to work. So running the laundry while you're making dinner, that's background tasking. Trying to make dinner at the same time as you are getting your children dressed, that is probably going to be a problem.

Rachel Salaman: But we should be consciously seeking out ways to background task in order to work more efficiently, for example, if we were just about to start a big print job we should be thinking to ourselves this is a great opportunity to work on something else while we're printing out this big document.

Dave Crenshaw: Right. One of the things that I do when I'm processing my tasks, meaning making decisions about when I'm going to do them, is I ask myself if I start this task can it continue its work while I'm gone? Another example would be delegating something to someone. If I wait for five hours to delegate something to someone that they could have been working on that whole time, then I've missed an opportunity so it's better for me to delegate that first and then begin working on other things while for instance, my assistant can start working on that task.

Rachel Salaman: Well a lot of people do have multiple projects going on at once, particularly these days. How should they approach the challenge of progressing with all their commitments while avoiding switch tasking, obviously apart from seeking out ways to background task?

Dave Crenshaw: It really begins with making a decision to be conscious about what you're doing and when you're doing it. So many people experience the phenomenon of reaching the end of the day and feeling, you know, they put their feet up on the chair and their spouse says, 'How was your day?' 'Oh I did a lot of work, it was hard work.' 'Well great, what did you do?' And the person kind of pauses and thinks, 'I don't know but I was working really hard.' That is a symptom of somebody who is allowing their day to really push them all over the place rather than being conscious about the decisions that they're making and so part of what I advocate is that people establish a clear budget of what they are going to do during set periods of time and especially put in place techniques to minimize the amount of switches that take place in their day. You can't completely get rid of switches but you can put systems into place that dramatically reduce the number of switches that take place in your day and that really allows you to take control and be clear about how you are managing the projects rather than letting the projects running you.

Rachel Salaman: So what kind of systems would that be?

Dave Crenshaw: Well, I'll start at the most basic. The easiest place to begin is by taking control over technology and when I say that, I mean realize that you are the master of that cell phone or mobile phone that you have. You are the master of your email, not the other way round. Most people allow the email to dictate to them the pace of their day. If you are checking your email multiple times per hour or even ten times a day, you're not in control, the email is controlling you and so a great place to start is to first establish a set time and a set place when you are going to check that email and I would say a cousin to that is just turn off email notification altogether. You do not need to hear a beep every time an email comes in and you especially don't need to hear that on your phone if you choose to have your phone set up to check email, so just turn that off and take control when you're going to check it.

Rachel Salaman: And what about the telephone, can you do anything about that?

Dave Crenshaw: Yes, you can decide not to answer it! I know that you're saying, well Dave, thanks for coming on and being an expert on this and you tell people not to answer their phone but you can turn it off, you can turn it off for periods, you can decide that when you are meeting especially with a human being face to face that you're going to focus on that person and not the phone. You know, I talked to somebody just the other day who said they saw three kids walking down the campus together at a university and they were all talking on cell phones and how strange it seemed to them that they're next to live human beings yet they are not talking to the person next to them, they're talking to someone who's not there and those kinds of situations are confronting us every single day and it really, not only is it less effective but it also makes people feel really unimportant and that's a danger in a business context because you are communicating this consistent message to your co-workers and sometimes even to your customers that a phone is more important than a person, so it is just making again, becoming aware that you're doing that and then starting to make conscious decisions to say when I'm with a person I'm going to focus on the person rather than on the phone call.

Rachel Salaman: And would you extend that to, if you were working on something which required your full concentration, you would just let your phone go to voice mail in those circumstances, even if you were on your own?

Dave Crenshaw: Absolutely and I would take it a step further, if I were working on something which required my concentration, then turn off the cell phone because even if you don't answer the call, let's say I'm working on the numbers, I'm crunching financial numbers and the phone rings, even if I look at it and think okay, I'm working on this, I've caused a switch, it's diverted my attention for that moment and now I am going to incur switching cost, I'm going to have to transition back to what was I thinking about, where am I? So give the phone a moment of silence, give it some time to rest and then when you're done with your project, turn it back on, check your voice mail. In fact on my voice mail it gives people an expectation of when I'm going to return their call so that they don't feel they are being neglected, they know that I am going to get to them, they know that I am going to return their call in a timely manner.

Rachel Salaman: So we turn off the phone, we don't let our email interrupt us, these all seem like ways that technology gets in the way of efficiency. Are there any ways to use technology to actually increase our efficiency, to use it as a really positive tool?

Dave Crenshaw: Absolutely and in fact, that's one of the things that I advocate to help people focus more on their time, is use technology and use it properly. I'll give a couple of examples, one is just be aware of the quality and the condition of the tools that you have. If you're using a computer that's older than three years, odds are it's outdated and so you want to make sure that you can upgrade it with RAM or even get a new computer so that your most valuable resource, which is your time, isn't held up by a computer that's slow and having lots of technical problems, so that's basic.

There are also lots of great tools out there, one for example and I'm sure there are equivalents in the UK as well as the US, I use a service called Recall that allows me to make notes to myself and it transcribes the messages and sends it to my email so I can process those later but when a thought comes in my head I can immediately dump it out into this system which is fantastic so that I don't forget it.

What I come across a lot, Rachel, is that people already have the tools that they need in terms of technology, they've already got them. What they need is to learn how to use them properly. If you come up to the average person on the street and say 'Do you know how to do everything your cell phone is capable of doing?' how many people are going to answer yes? They have all these things available to them, they're just not using them.

Rachel Salaman: Are there any other things that you can mention in this context?

Dave Crenshaw: Sure, another one that I use is a service called YouMail and there are a few different versions of this but what it did is replaced my mobile phone voicemail with its voice mail and that allows me to do a few things. First of all, I don't have to worry about checking my voice mail anymore because I know that the messages are going to go to email so I got rid of one place that I have to worry about finding things. The other thing that let's me do, it's actually kind of fun is with my personal executive coaching clients I create a special voice mail just for them so when they call in, it notices that they're calling and says something like 'Hi John, you're a valued client, because of that you're going to go to the top of my queue, I will get back to your message within two hours at the absolute latest, thank you for letting me serve you.' That allows me to personalize the experience for my clients and it also again gives me control over what people's expectations are over when I'm going to get back to them.

Rachel Salaman: Yes, how important is that because that is a point you've brought up a couple of times now – managing people's expectations.

Dave Crenshaw: Oh it's absolutely critical. It's critical in a phone context, someone leaving a message, it's also critical in a face-to-face work environment context, in establishing a big when, letting people know when you are going to get back to them. I talk a lot about making the transition from a culture of now to a culture of when. The culture of now says I need immediate answers, I need to respond to the phone immediately, if I have a question I can interrupt my co-worker now. The culture of when says I am going to answer every message, I am going to respond to every single question but at the right time and I need to let others know when that time is so in a work environment I might have a sign or even a set schedule with my co-workers that lets them know when I'm going to be available for all those quick questions that they have in the day.

So many people, if their day is chopped to bits and pieces by lots of little quick questions, that just comes down to not managing other people's expectations. When are we going to have a chance to talk about these? If your co-workers don't know when they are going to get a chance to talk to you, they will default to now.

Rachel Salaman: So how do you put a system like that in place, do you just assess every co-worker and work out when each co-worker needs to see you?

Dave Crenshaw: Sure. I give people a baseline and tell them to work backwards or forwards from there. What I say is the right amount of time to meet, I call them one-to-one huddles and a one-to-one huddle should be held probably twice per month at about 50 minutes per meeting. That means if you have someone who you manage and they ask you lots of questions, you need to establish a regular reoccurring schedule where you two are going to get together and share those quick questions, so that's the baseline, two meetings a month at 50 minutes. Now if that doesn't seem like enough to you, then you can meet more often but the more often you meet, the shorter the meeting should be so if I meet once a week with them maybe the meetings are 30 minutes. Also if it's too much you need to say only one meeting per month, that one meeting should probably be 90 minutes, so the less often you meet the longer the meeting should be.

Rachel Salaman: In a way, this is really all about better time management. What do people tend to get wrong in your experience when it comes to managing their time effectively?

Dave Crenshaw: That's a great question and what I see most often is that people are trying to manage time that they don't have. That's why the approach that I take is let's first get you time. No matter what we do, we can't change the truth of time and people want to all the time and the truth of time – I kind of joke with my clients and say this is why you're paying me the big bucks, here it is – the truth of time is there are only 60 minutes in an hour, there are only 24 hours in a day. Thank you very much, you can send the check to my office!

In our society that statement has become almost profound, which is sad because most people are trying to cram 65 minutes worth of activity into a 60-minute hour, they are trying to cram 25 hours' worth of activity into a 24-hour day and no matter how hard you try to do that, it cannot be done. So what most people do, they are trying to fill their day absolutely jam-packed when they try to manage their time but what they are doing is they are leaving no room for error, which creates a situation where they are going to inevitably start multitasking.

That technique may have worked 20 years ago when we didn't have the rate of information overflow that we have right now but at the moment it's going to require people to first find ways to stop the flow of information in an appropriate way and then calculate conscious decisions about what they are going to do with it.

Rachel Salaman: Can you share a couple of tips to help people manage their time better?

Dave Crenshaw: Basic is when you are scheduling something on the calendar, leave buffer space between the appointments. I am a Star Trek fan and so bear with me when I say the ability to beam yourself somewhere hasn't been invented yet so if you have an appointment and the next one starts and you have got to travel five minutes to get there, they shouldn't be back to back and yet I see that happen so much. It's as if people just want to ignore the reality of space and time when they are scheduling things. Along with that, you are going to get interrupted, you're going to get quick questions, you are going to have to respond to voicemail that comes in, so leave some room between the different appointments that you schedule. If you see a schedule that packed hour to hour to hour to hour, you are not living in reality of the truth of time, you're trying to pretend that you have more time than you really have and what's going to happen is, you're going to start multitasking and switch tasking and you're going to end up getting even less done than you could have before because you start incurring switching costs.

One tip that I recommend to everyone, but especially to those who are more entrepreneurial, involved in owning their own business or wanting to do lots of different things, is learn how to focus on your most valuable activities. This is something that I don't even talk about in The Myth of Multitasking, I actually just wrote about it and my next book is going to come out in May 2010 where I talk a lot about this. So many people are spreading themselves in lots of different directions in terms of all the different things they want to do, they have a hard time either saying no to others or saying no to themselves and when you spread yourself in all those different directions, you are creating a situation where you are going to switch task a lot and you are also not going to master anything. It's that old phrase 'Jack of all trades, master of none'. Well if I have 15 different work activities in my day that I perform, I am a jack of all trades and I am not going to increase my value in the marketplace, in fact, I'm going to make myself very replaceable because I haven't become a master of anything.

So I would say a general time management tip, and really as much as I can give in an interview this brief, is to start to become aware of what are your most valuable activities and how much time do you really spend on them. Most business leaders spend less than 30 percent of their time on their most valuable activities and when I say business leaders I mean a CEO, a vice president, a business owner, and what they're doing is they are really missing out on so much more that they could be doing if they were focused on just one or two things that they were very, very good at.

Rachel Salaman: Dave Crenshaw, thank you very much for joining us.

Dave Crenshaw: Thank you very much for having me on Rachel.

The name of Dave's book again is "The Myth of Multitasking: How Doing It All Gets Nothing Done." There's more information about Dave and his work at his website, www.davecrenshaw.com.

I'll be back in a couple of weeks with another expert interview, until then, goodbye.