Tips to juggle multiple streams of work

At some point everyone ends up in a situation when we need to multitask. Switching between tasks incurs a cost both in speed of execution and in the quality of the result. In this post I’d like to present some strategies that have worked for me to help minimise the cost of context switching and generally be more productive and less stressed.

1. Break the work down into chunks

My first tip is to take some time and break things down into discrete chunks. I find it helps if I can get to a stopping point, ideally one I can commit to source control and then move on to the other task. The bigger the piece of work, the more you have to keep track of in your head. Slice up that big piece into smaller chunks, that way you can close off the bits you’ve completed and free up some mental real estate for new tasks.

2. Write things down

If there’s only one tip you take away from this, let it be this one. Writing everything down frees up my mind to focus on my work and frees me from that little niggling voice wondering if I’m not forgetting something. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy. I’ve lived in a sticky note forest for a bit, that’s okay but I keep losing them because the cat thinks they’re her toys… I’m a big proponent of bullet journaling at work. I use a minimalist approach: few or no drawings, don’t really care about the paper quality or the kind of pen, just write stuff down and keep moving. I’ve got some posts in the pipeline about the subject but in the meantime this is a good place to start.

3. Delay the switch until a good stopping point

This one is not always possible, but when it’s doable I find it really helps. Say for example I’m in the middle of a coding session, halfway through working out the solution to a thorny problem or three quarters done testing my latest change before raising the pull request and someone sends a question my way, or an alarm goes off on one of our services. I’ll take a minute or two to assess if it has to be dealt with immediately. If it does, all good, I just write a quick note of where I’m at in my current task, stop and refocus on the new thing. If it doesn’t, I’ll just write the new task in my daily log and have a proper look at it as soon as I’ve reached the next stopping point.

4. Prioritize

Knowing the difference between what needs to be done now and what can be put off until later is key to managing time effectively. If you work in a team it’s good to touch base regularly and make sure everyone is on the same page regarding what’s the most important thing to work on now. If I’m working on my own or there’s no clear direction my rule of thumb is:

1. Significant customer impact
2. Must deliver
3. Improvements

5. Ask for help if you’re getting overwhelmed

Most of us work as part of a team. Healthy teams have a collaborative relationship, not an adversarial one. If you’re struggling, ask for help. It’s better to admit that you’ve got too much on your plate and try to work with your team to refocus and do the right things properly than to try to do everything and end up doing things poorly. This is probably going to sound a bit harsh but if you don’t feel safe around your team and/or that you can’t count on them to have your back there’s something unhealthy in your work environment. It might be time to do some thinking about whether you really want to keep working with those people.

6. Avoid distractions

This last tip applies whether you need to multitask or not. Distractions can impact my focus when I’ve got just one thing to keep track of. When I’ve got two, three or ten things I need to juggle the last thing I need is some external stimulus jogging my mental elbow. I’ve known people who swear they are more productive if they can watch a movie while they work or study, but I definitely can’t. Auditory stimulus is okay especially if it helps mask other distracting sounds, for example cranking up the music to avoid being distracted by people talking around you. I personally favour instrumental music or lyrics in a language I don’t speak as my brain won’t try to parse any information out of them while I’m busy working. Sometimes distractions are unavoidable. It’s probably better in that case to stop, make a note of where you are and focus on that distraction and get whatever it is sorted before coming back to your work.

That’s it from me for today. Hope this is helpful! Please don’t hesitate to share this on social media using the buttons below, or start a discussion in the comments once I get them working!