Is Multi-Tasking a Bad Thing?

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Career Development   Change Management  

When I was a young project manager, being told that you were a great multi-tasker was seen as the ultimate compliment. It was an acknowledgement of the ability to juggle multiple priorities, to work on a number of different issues and challenges in parallel, and to consider the disparate needs of multiple stakeholders. All without ever dropping the ball, maintaining a team that was highly motivated and engaged, and never being a minute late submitting a status report.

However, as I’ve matured as a project manager, I’ve realized two things:

1. Being a multi-tasker isn’t necessarily always a good thing.
2. I wasn’t really being praised for being a multi-tasker anyway.

In today’s world, the dangers and risks of multi-tasking are a little better understood than they were way back when. But I still think that multi-tasking is seen as a trait that project managers should have in abundance. In fact, I know an experienced project manager who has enjoyed a lot of success in their career, who insists that PMs are the “ultimate multi-taskers.” He may be right at times, but I don’t believe that’s something we should strive for.

So, let’s explore this whole multi-tasking thing a bit…

Multi-tasking is a bad thing?
Let me be clear from the outset: I don’t think multi-tasking is a bad thing, I just don&…

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