Why multitasking never offers the desired outcome

Many people love to believe that they’re able to multitask. But according to science our brains aren’t designed to focus on more than one thing at a time. And bombarding them with information will only slow them down.

As Professor of Psychology Paul A. Kirschner of Open University in Heerlen expressed it so nicely in an interview with Quest: “The chance that you are able to multitask is as big as you can sprint hundred meters within nine seconds: A normal person can’t do that.”

Still not convinced that multitasking doesn’t work for you? Then do the test at Lab in the Wild.

During our implementations, we continuously focus on ensuring that we create processes that add the most value for our customer. In addition, we try to implement – in a very short timeframe (read: 3 months) – as many optimizations as possible. Therefore, we always ask ourselves the questions:

• Are we working on the right things?
• Should we be focussing on these items right now?
• Are we challenging ourselves for things we need right now or for items that “might be useful in the future”?
• And are we working on topics we can finish and accomplish?

In my previous blog, “Fixed price, where is the catch?” I already explained how we’re able to offer our Boltrics project at fixed price.

The less balls you have to keep in the air, the better it goes.

An expression that complements the fact that we – as human beings – are bad at multitasking, and it is much easier to complete tasks when you only focus on one item. And completing tasks means achieving results. Think of Kanban and Just In Time (JIT).

The story seems so simple. The underlying wisdom as old as the road to Rome. However, for many it is difficult to put it into practice. For me, this is one of the best things while working at Boltrics: helping people to complete successful projects!

I enjoy working on that – every day.