Great to learn from the community about pros and cons of multi-tasking in project management context. Saving Changes...
Gaurav KukrejaSAP ERP consultant / IT Project Manager| Florida Department of RevenueTallahassee, Fl, United States
Multi tasking does not exist. I mean it technically does, but not in areas like management.
One can have multiple roles. Like one IT resource can be a IT project manager and also system architect. This will allow better understanding of the process, detailed deliverables more realistic timelines - takes care of the padding challange that project mangers face all the time.. Saving Changes...
Neither.. the philosophy should only do what you are good at. By multi tasking, if you start putting your head into things that others can do better, then its a failure. As long as you do things, let it be multi-tasking or single, if it is done the best way, then that is the way to go forward.. Saving Changes...
Stelian ROMANProject Manager| MicroSafetyCarlingford, New South Wales, Australia
In my job is pretty common to respond to emails while doing something else like meetings and conferences. It takes time to master multitasking but when you can do it it saves time, Thinking is a task that can be done in parallel with something else like reviewing a document,
I can think of other instances of multi tasking like designing and coding It's not impossible. Saving Changes...
Eric SimmsSenior Program ManagerBaltimore, Maryland, United States
Multitasking is a strength (assuming we use the definition offered by some earlier respondents that multitasking is really just switching focus from one thing to another). By this definition multitasking can be redefined as 'flexible thought', which is certainly a strength for any Project Manager. Project Managers who lack flexible thought are like skiers who can't turn. Both are fine so long as they don't encounter any obstacles, but their lack of flexibility prevents them from both avoiding problems and capitalizing on opportunities when they appear. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
It is like bad weather - be aware of it and try to avoid meeting it.
One benefit of scrum teams, kanban charts as well as Critical Chain is that multitasking is minimized. In scrum you chose backlog items to work on during the sprint and you focus on a few tasks and you are shielded from outside requests.
Wow, I could go on and on with many answers to this question. In short, I tell people to manage to the level of work you can that makes you and the project & team successful. No more, no less. I do caution people to brag out being about to multi-task; anyone who tells me they can multi-task tend to not be able to stay focused or is asking to take on too much and needs to find a sustainable pace. Personally, can I multi-task? Yes, but should I? This results-oriented person says nada because I'm particular about doing for doing sake and the employer is less aware of the need to hire more people rather than burning out their employee.
This question is similar to people saying they're "detail-oriented". I don't know what that really means other than you might be more concerned about the details than say your boss, however you may not be so detail oriented that you actually want/need to know every line of code executed in a project or physical "thing" or micro-details in a manufacturing something. So am I "detail-oriented"? Maybe, I guess? Saving Changes...
Multi-tasking and switching tasks are different. You should be able to switch tasks as early as possible as a project manager; but multi-tasking i.e. working on multiple tasks at a moment is ideally not possible and could generate mistakes. Saving Changes...
