MULTITASKING Don’t infect your Team
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
I DEVELOPED THE GAME MULTITASKING INFECTION TO SHOW MANAGERS THAT MULTITASKING CAN HAVE SEVERE EFFECTS NOT ONLY TO THEMSELVES BUT ESPECIALLY TO THEIR TEAMS. IN ADDITION THIS GAME AIMS TO MAKE ANYONE AWARE OF THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM SUCCESSFULLY. ADDITIONAL MATERIAL (TASK SHEETS ETC.) WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE VERY SOON. THE GAME IS AVAILABLE UNDER CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE
SUMMARY
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
YOUR WORKPLACE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO_oEGHWSMU
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
More than half of the 1.100 participants stated they respond to e-mail immediately or as soon as possible. 21% respond to incoming e-mails within a meeting
“Infomania” Study for Hewlett-Packard (Wilson G, 2005)
PEOPLE LOVE TO MULTITASK
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
POSSIBLE REASONS? LACK OF SELF-DISCIPLINE
SOME LIKE TO BE DISRUPTED
CURRENT TASK IS BORING OR DIFFICULT
LOVE A WELCOME DISTRACTION
OTHERS EXPECT THAT I’M REACTING ASAP
…
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
THE PROJECT MANAGER
Five Salty Balls by Gabriel Rojas Hruska , https://www.flickr.com/photos/bluefade/4229364807/
WE USUALLY MULTITASK
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
GREAT (PROJECT)
MANAGERS DELEGATE
TASKS
http://www.recruiter.com/i/10-things-that-make-a-good-project-manager-great/
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
HOW DO I RECOGNISE?
NOT YET ANOTHER NON-SENSE MEETING!
ARRGG – I WANT TO STAY FOCUSSED FOR 30 MINS….
UX
DEV
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
10-point fall in IQ by people getting distracted by phone calls or incoming emails.
“Infomania” Study for Hewlett-Packard (Wilson G, 2005)
Chronic Multitaskers perfomend extremely bad at all tasks given compared to non-multitaskers. Multitaskers use their brains less effectively.
Cognitive control in media multitaskers (Nass, C et al., 2009)
Participants who had to perform three tasks simultaneously regulary forgot one of the tasks and made three times as many mistakes compared to working on two tasks at the same time.
Divided Representation of Concurrent Goals in the Human Frontal Lobes (Charron S, Koechlin E, 2010)
CONSEQUENCES
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
CONSEQUENCES
Participants lost a significant amount of time when they switched between tasks. The more complex the task, the more time they lost. Executive Control of Cognitive Processes in Task Switching (Rubinstein et al., 2001)
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
SWITCHING TIME
t
Task
Interruption
Task + Interruptions
Switching Time
Total
MULTITASKING
INFECTION
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Designs the product in a way customers love.
QS
UX
Finds pragmatic solutions for complicated problems.
An expert in finding bugs and errors.
DEV
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
THE TASKS
Contribute Slides to a Presentation
Research Tasks
Help with Technical Problems
Administrative Tasks
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
THE SIGNIFICANT OTHERS
Need Help
Managers Other PMs
Colleagues Members of other Teams
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
THE RULES
Project Managers receive 1 point per correctly completed task on time 1 PT
1 PT
-1 PT If a task is not completed correctly (of not on time) the Project Managers receive minus 1 point
Team Member receive 1 point for each entity (block)
ROUND 1
ROUND 1 8 Minutes (equivalent to 8h workday)
Project Manager approached tasks on TODO-List sequentially (one after the other)
Others
Others ask project managers or other team members occasionally for help.
Team-Members do their job
LEARNINGS?
MIKE SAYS
” The usual example is that the ScrumMaster must protect the team from an overly aggressive product
owner.”
Mike Cohen, 2011
HOW CAN WE DECREASE
MULTITASKING ?
ROUND 2
ROUND 2 2 Minutes Preparation Time. 8 Minutes (equivalent to 8h workday)
Project Manager approached tasks on TODO-List in any order she or he likes.
Others
Others ask project managers or other team members occasionally for help.
Team-Members do their job
LEARNINGS?
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
HOW CAN WE DECREASE MULTITASKING?
! Say “no” or “come back later, please”
! Check your emails only once an hour
! Disable your messenger
! Plan Meetings carefully
! Prioritise and batch tasks for others
! Occasionally work somewhere else
! Establish “Office Hours”
! Only delegate tasks if you really cannot solve them on your own
FEEDBACK
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
! Create no-disturbing slots
! Scrum Master is SPoC for the team
! Agree on other busy signals (Status in Messengers, Traffic Light, etc.)
! Don’t pick up the phone when you are busy (if the problem is urgent the person will visit you)
! Plan Meetings around common arrival times or breaks
! Plan Meetings efficiently, split meetings with different participants (e.g. technical and managerial part)
! Mutual education of members about when to interrupt and when not to disturb
PMCAMP BERLIN 2014
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
LEARNINGS The Game needs about 15 Minutes of preparation of the environment.
The one team per table setting was quite good.
If you have only 40 minutes, use only one round without measuring team performance. If you plan to run the whole game with two rounds, it will take about two hours.
Let the discussion about improvements run freely for about 15 minutes without pushing the team to the improvements you have already thought about before.
The QS Task (comparing two rows) was too easy – it will be altered soon.
Although project managers are kind of aware about the negative effects of Multitasking, the game helps to put a focus on it.
THANK YOU
MULTITASKING Christoph Moser ([email protected])
WHO WAS THIS GUY?
Christoph Moser
Dipl-Ing. tech. Informatik, MBA Agile Coach, Agile Project Manager Strong Background as Java Developer and Information Architect Certified Scrum Master Certified Scrum Product Owner Keen runner, photographer and cook
0049 173 36 18 15 8
www.vividbreeze.com