Getting off the Crack of IM, or Trying to Anyway…
David Pescovitz over at the overwhelming cornucopia that is Boing Boing links to — and insightfully comments on — a piece from Sunday’s New York Times on The Myth of Multitasking. It resonates in that deep, thrumming twang a big rubber band way for me. What’s it about? Trying to do too many things inhibits a person’s — and to be specific, my — ability to do any one of those things well.
As Gomer Pyle said, “SurPRISE! SurPRISE! SurPRISE!”
As my work responsibilities have increased, I’ve started to modify my behavior in fits and starts. I set my Trillian to “invisible” so that I can fire off a quick message to my editors while not being easily available to them. But, y’see, there’s a problem with hiring smart and agile thinkers: the editors have adapted to my new trick and leave my IM window open all day so that they can reach me even if I’ve gone invisible. Drat. One of them has even figured out that she can send me an experimental IM even if I seem to be offline.
On the less selfish side, I realized that locking myself in my office to work was making me distant from the team in an unhealthy way, so now I try — try! — to walk around the department a few times each day, checking in, finding out what they need and the like. I should confess that I only started doing this after they started pouncing on me like cats on a toy mouse every time I opened my door. “Hmmm, maybe I should check in more?” I finally thought.
All this means that I now must change my ways again, in more aggressive and organized ways. The question, of course, is how? The NYT article is clear: email has to go off for long stretches of time. I should probably keep regular slots when I’m open on IM, Skype and the like as well. Turning off the phones is difficult because too many people have my cell phone and simply call that number if I’m not in the office.
A few months back I bought a copy of “Getting Things Done.” Ironically, I haven’t had time to read more than a few pages. Perhaps the plane ride home from Las Vegas tomorrow is the right time to crack it back open.
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