I’ve written (ranted?) several times on the evils of multitasking and every time I turn around there’s more proof that it doesn’t raise productivity, improve results or cure your time crunch.

Proof, that is, in terms of scientific research as opposed to subjective evaluations.

The most recent was in Sunday’s NY Times that brought out the fact that you don’t really do things simultaneously; rather you switch your focus back and forth between them.

That may sound OK, but the problem is in the lag time, since the human brain doesn’t do the switch instantaneously.

Sure, some multitasking is just rude, think talking on the phone and doing email, while some is downright stupid, like texting and driving.

“…17 drivers, age 17 to 24, to use a driving simulator to see how texting affected driving.

The reaction time was around 35 percent slower when writing a text message — slower than driving drunk or stoned.”

But what about the multitasking that you’re forced to do at work? Jumping back and forth on projects, checking/responding to email, answering questions, etc.?

“A 2005 study, “No Task Left Behind? Examining the Nature of Fragmented Work,” found that people were interrupted and moved from one project to another about every 11 minutes. And each time, it took about 25 minutes to circle back to that same project.”

Have things changed or are the older studies holding true?

According to Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California at Irvine and a co-author of that study and a new one published last April titled “The Cost of Interrupted Work: More Speed and Stress” showed that “people actually worked faster in conditions where they were interrupted, but they produced less… Ten and a half minutes on one project is not enough time to think in-depth about anything.”

Impressive. One action that single-handedly kills productivity and innovation, while increasing stress.

Multitasking seems to be a great tool for those who manage by intimidation and abuse, but for the rest of us it would be better to focus and spend some time on innovative approaches that minimize multitasking for yourself and your people.

And before you add a silent ‘but me’ think about which side of ‘but me’ your choice plays to.

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Yesterday, Dave Zinger reviewed a book called The Myth of Multitasking.

Also yesterday, Brenda left a comment on an old (before my time) post on my other blog that led me to a 2001 APA article explaining “executive control.” “[It] involves two distinct, complementary stages: goal shifting (“I want to do this now instead of that”) and rule activation (“I’m turning off the rules for that and turning on the rules for this”). Both stages help people unconsciously switch between tasks.”

The time spent shifting is yet another reason why multitasking is a myth.

All this reminded me of a post I wrote in 2006 that is overdue for republishing right now.

Smart or stupid? Your choice!

Back in early 2003 I read an article in the Wall Street Journal called Multitasking Makes You Stupid and I cheered. Why? Because it’s always nice to have one’s opinion confirmed through scientific study by experts with lots of credentials—especially when most of the people around you are bragging about how well they multitask.

I got to thinking about that and did a bit more searching to see if anything’s changed. There’s one study that looked at gender differences and came to the conclusion that whereas productivity is about equal, women have a slight advantage in accuracy. I’m certainly not claiming I read all 250,000 pages returned on a search using the terms, multitasking study Dr university, but scanning through the first hundred I didn’t notice anything that contradicted what I’ve always thought—multitasking is not productive!

So what’s happened since the original article appeared? More ways to multitask; more managers demanding that their people do it; and more people bragging about their skill at it—more errors, accidents and loss of productivity.

Don’t believe me? Think about

• what it’s like talking to someone who is reading email or doing other computer tasks during the conversation;
• how close you’ve come to creaming someone, or being creamed, while talking on a cell;
• the last time you didn’t notice the sirens ’cause you were listening to an iPod or talking on a cell.

And before you write all this off with the famous “but me” argument ask yourself: are you really that different from the rest of the human race?

For more insights read HBS working Knowledge columnist Stever Robbins (among many others), then read my Think, dream, innovate, and then really think about how you want to run your life!

Then ask yourself, what percentage of the day do you spend multitasking?

Image credit: shdt

Phil Gerbyshak over at Slacker Manager has a great post yesterday; talking about how your presence is the best present you can give your team and three ways to do it.

I agree with everything Phil said, but I think presence should be taken a step farther and woven into the fabric of your corporate culture.

Your undivided presence when interacting with your people is an absolute necessity when managing today’s workforce if you have any interest in improving productivity and increasing retention.

But what about your team’s interactions with each other and with other parts of the company?

If presence is about paying attention, paying attention is about respect.

Respect is what people should have for each other.

Respect doesn’t just travel down, it travels in all directions.

Respect has nothing to do with position, title, degrees, seniority, salary or other business trappings.

Multitasking when you are interacting is about disrespect.

Which does your culture endorse?

Image credit: sxc.hu

Good post over at lifehack.org about productivity and why it’s about more than time management.

Rather than rewrite it I’m going to link you up with some stuff I’ve written previously that dovetails perfectly with the idea of Luftmenschen (people who deal in the non-tangible: ideas, thoughts, dreams).

I’ve written about this before, starting with proof that multitasking is a figment of your overactive imagination or wish list; then on to the time to think to facilitate the dreaming that fosters innovation and happiness; why vacations are important, and, best of all, here’s a link to the only real, honest-to-goodness silver bullet that not only exists, but is already yours!

Are you a Luftmenschen?