Multi-tasking vs Quality Work

[Kasper]

^^^ This is all very much me. I need to be able to continuously jump between tasks. I occasionally manage to focus enough to work on something for half an hour if it's something that really fascinates me, but that's rare. Several minutes at a time on one task at work is about all I can handle. I often have 3 or 4 half-written emails open, and several other documents I'm part way through writing, interspersed with phone calls and talking to colleagues and reading a newspaper article and and and... When I'm writing, sometimes I stop halfway through a sentence and jump to something else, and I rarely write linearly - I jump all over the place in long documents. If I was forced to work linearly and work on one thing at a time until it was finished, the frustration and boredom would make the job unbearable.

That is SO me! One of these days I'll start and finish something without getting distracted by a dozen other things in-between just to see if I can

 

[Xander]

Apparently, when they say multitasking what they really mean is task-switching, quickly from one to another.

I can do that if the thinking required is shallow, but if concentration is required then I will use a lot of time trying to re-gather my train of thought once I get back to the intense project. This is especially true if I'm working on a project that requires consistency throughout. I guess I could make notes on the system I developed, so I wouldn't have to take chances on remembering it later.

Unless I miss my guess this is precisely what my learned friend Mr Wildcat is saying. Less depth, more efficiency. Maintain your global view.

Oh and just as a side note, YOU don't do that. You are an IJ no? You suck up ALL the irrelevancies and THEN get rid of the waste. If you learned the IP way (a most difficult task if trying to work the reverse is anything to go by) and filtered out the rubbish before you set your mind upon it then you'd have spare time enough to multi thread!

INTP > INTJ

 

[kuranes]

I hate true multi-tasking, unless I'm doing some mindless task that requires little thought. People pointed out the difference between juggling tasks and doing them simultaneously ( "true" ) , and so I won't go into that. There is also a difference between types of tasks. Some require more concentration than others. In the macro view, this can also lead to the difference between craftsmanship and "flex" personnel. I do tend to have a lot of projects going on in my life, but I work at them one at a time, usually.

I would just tell the HR interviewers that you can handle multi-tasking, assuming the job sounds interesting to you.

 

[Salomé]

Is there a personality type that can pull this off? What type is it?

I find it hard to believe that it's actually humanly possible, probably because I am a perfectionist.
I can multi-task but the quality of the work is going to suffer a little.
How can it not?!
I know that "multi-tasking" is the buzzword out there.
I just don't believe it's possible to do both - multi-task AND not let the quality of your work suffer.
Or am I the only one who has trouble with this?

You need a female brain.

Too bad we're both stuck with the inferior variety.

 

[Xander]

I would just tell the HR interviewers that you can handle multi-tasking, assuming the job sounds interesting to you.

As the saying goes
"Giz a job. I can do that."

 

[substitute]

Well, INTJMom, I've thought about all of the above and I'll have to PM you my thoughts, cos if I put them here I'll be lucky to get out alive...

 

[INTJMom]

Unless I miss my guess this is precisely what my learned friend Mr Wildcat is saying. Less depth, more efficiency. Maintain your global view.

Oh and just as a side note, YOU don't do that. You are an IJ no? You suck up ALL the irrelevancies and THEN get rid of the waste. If you learned the IP way (a most difficult task if trying to work the reverse is anything to go by) and filtered out the rubbish before you set your mind upon it then you'd have spare time enough to multi thread!

INTP > INTJ

Oh YEAH!
That's to make sure we don't miss anything IMPORTANT because WE hate to be WRONG!

 

[INTJMom]

You need a female brain.

Too bad we're both stuck with the inferior variety.

I KNEW I was defective!

 

[INTJMom]

Well, INTJMom, I've thought about all of the above and I'll have to PM you my thoughts, cos if I put them here I'll be lucky to get out alive...

I see what you mean.

 

[bluebell]

That is SO me! One of these days I'll start and finish something without getting distracted by a dozen other things in-between just to see if I can

I've tried, many times. And I've never managed to do it, even if I have a deadline rapidly approaching (the sorts of deadlines where you count down the minutes, not the hours).

 

[Kasper]

I prefer to refer to "deadlines" as either guidelines or suggestions, seems more accurate to me

 

[booyalab]

I got fired for mentioning a study that proved the quality of work suffers when your attention is diverted between multiple tasks, EVEN THOUGH I qualified it by recognizing it's occasional necessity.

 

[ajblaise]

wow i never heard of an introvert getting fired for not being able to keep their mouths shut.

 

[INTJMom]

I got fired for mentioning a study that proved the quality of work suffers when your attention is diverted between multiple tasks, EVEN THOUGH I qualified it by recognizing it's occasional necessity.

SERIOUSLY!
There sounds like there must be more to the story than that.
How long ago was that?
I mean, now they have studies to prove it and everything.
According to some of the people in this thread, not only CAN they miulti-task, they PREFER to multi-task.
So, go figure.

 

[bluebell]

I do occasionally do 'true' multitasking. The one which sticks in my head was organising a complicated urgent meeting on the phone while simultaneously typing a briefing paper for an entirely separate meeting. (I've since learnt to speak up if my workload gets to that extreme, so I haven't been in that situation since then)

However, I don't find it particularly difficult to multitask on one topic. I often find myself googling and hunting through websites for information to answer someone's question while simultaneously talking to them on the phone. I'm mostly on autopilot for that, though - both the conversation and googling. It only gets a bit tricky when the other person is angry about something and I have to calm them down at the same time as well as looking up websites.

I prefer to refer to "deadlines" as either guidelines or suggestions, seems more accurate to me

*peers at Trinity's alleged Jness*

 

[INTJMom]

...
However, I don't find it particularly difficult to multitask on one topic. I often find myself googling and hunting through websites for information to answer someone's question while simultaneously talking to them on the phone. I'm mostly on autopilot for that, though - both the conversation and googling. It only gets a bit tricky when the other person is angry about something and I have to calm them down at the same time as well as looking up websites.
...

Ha ha! I consider that ONE task!

 

[bluebell]

Ha ha! I consider that ONE task!

Hmm. True, I guess. Someone mentioned 'true' multitasking earlier (as opposed to the rapid jumping between tasks) and I was curious enough to mentally go through what I do at work to see what could be described as such. I think it's more of multitasking activity if you have no idea what you're looking for or if it even exists and you're just hoping you'll come across something relevant quickly enough so you don't have to call the person back later.

 

[INTJMom]

I think the research has proven that in reality, no one actually can think about two or more things at once.
What people really mean when they say multi-tasking is fast switch-tasking... the ability to switch between tasks quickly,
none of which are finished yet, therefore keeping several open jobs going at once.
Under pressure, I can do that for a limited amount of time.

I'm reminded of the guys they used to show on tv variety shows - the Plate Spinners.
They'd get a plate spinning on the top of a stick, then get another one going, and then another one, then he'd run between them all, keeping them all going at once.

While it's entertaining to watch, I would hate a job where I was expected to do that all day long every day.
YouTube - Plate spinner Van Buren plate spinning on TV Generation Game

 

[Kasper]

I often find myself googling and hunting through websites for information to answer someone's question while simultaneously talking to them on the phone.

See now I'd usually be on google searching for information for myself while pretending to be listening to the person on the phone. Does that count as multitasking

*peers at Trinity's alleged Jness*

Yah I dunno *shrug*

 

[Oleander]

If we think about it a bit harder, everybody multitasks at aa low level all the time. There's nearly always something going on in the background ready to respond to an emergency quite apart from automatic processes like breathing. Even some tasks are really multiple when you think about them so it's a bit arbitrary to talk about 'multitasking' altogether.

It was a computer term and that business of fast switching between tasks is essentially what it referred to. There's a few exceptions up in the multi-processor supercomputer range where a number of processes really are going on at once but they don't know about each other - it's more like a network all in one box or even on one board. When it comes to conscious activity, we really switch attention more than carry several tasks out together.