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One thing at a time, or the truth about multitasking.
Byline: DT
One thing at a time, or the truth about multitasking
Have you heard of David Allen or Getting Things Done, sometimes abbreviated to GTD? He's something of a guru on how to keep a clear head while dealing successfully with our rapidly accelerating and increasingly complicated lives. More on him later.
Apparently, younger people are better equipped to deal with the modern world because they are much more able to multitask. They are entering the workforce with different abilities and attitudes and, quite often, are baffled by the inflexibility of working methods based on older, more hierarchical principles. To them, networking and continuous partial attention are second nature.
At least, that's what you hear from the advocates of the Web 2.0 and social computing worlds.
The basic idea is that if you are connected and you can grab help from other people at the moment you need it, you save time. They, in turn, can do the same for others. The end result is that the network as a whole gets more done in less time. And if that network is a business network, then the organisation gains from the behaviour.
In everyday terms, it's as if a neighbour, say, is a dab hand at gardening and you're a bit of a computer whizz. You could barter your time and your skills for theirs. In half an hour you could get your roses pruned while your neighbour gets their new computer set up. Total time required for both tasks: one hour. The DIY option could end up taking a whole day.
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