{"id":12171,"date":"2016-06-13T14:02:01","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T19:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/?p=12171"},"modified":"2020-02-20T14:04:59","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T20:04:59","slug":"do-you-have-5-minutes-the-true-cost-of-context-switching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/do-you-have-5-minutes-the-true-cost-of-context-switching\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Have 5 Minutes? The True Cost of Context Switching"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

The dreaded question, \u201cDo you have five minutes?\u201d seems to be relatively harmless on the surface; who doesn\u2019t have five minutes to spare? Everyone wants to be helpful \u2014 which is why you\u2019re always willing to put down what you\u2019re doing to hear your coworker\u2019s burning questions. Then, you struggle to wrap your head around the context of their issue, and engage in the inevitable knowledge transfer required to catch up to their thought process.<\/p>\n

Somehow, five minutes has turned into 20 minutes. You\u2019ve deposited your answer and they leave content with the outcome. You finally get back to your computer, ready to pick up where you left off \u2014 but you get stuck: \u201cWhere was I again?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Context Switch That Keeps On Switching<\/h3>\n

As you try to recall the last thing you were doing, that \u201cfive minute\u201d conversation creeps back into your mind: \u201cDid I give them good advice? Did I answer their question completely?\u201d You know whatever off-handed answer you just gave is going to be socialized with your name on it. Was it the answer you would\u2019ve given if you\u2019d had more time to think it through?<\/p>\n

You might feel the need to send a clarifying follow-up email \u2014 adding another 10 minutes to this \u201cfive-minute\u201d question. It takes you another 15 minutes to resume the work you had originally intended to do, 45 minutes behind schedule.<\/p>\n

How Kanban Helps<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kanban boards<\/a>\u00a0enable more effective communication than these \u201cquick\u201d exchanges. Instead of simply conveying where work is, you can discuss how to\u00a0move tasks forward<\/em>\u00a0to a successful completion. Visualizing work makes communication healthier for both the doer and the observer. Communication is also faster when both sides are presented with a common place to \u201cgo look\u201d at the work.<\/p>\n

Visualize your work on a\u00a0Kanban board\u00a0to quickly convey status,\u00a0highlight bottlenecks<\/a>\u00a0in the process, identify blocked tasks and display comments in the context of the task on the cards.<\/p>\n

Dedicate Time to Problem Solving<\/h3>\n

Kanban is a very effective tool for communicating current status \u2014 but it isn\u2019t intended to replace face-to-face communication, especially when it comes to complex problem solving. Some problems can be solved with a short meeting between one or two people, while others would benefit from a team discussion.<\/p>\n

We have to set aside time to have informal conversations with no real agenda, other than to discuss team problems that need to be solved. Face-to-face team sessions provide a forum to dive into complex problem solving, with a shared understanding of context and the issues at hand. In the Lean world, these sessions are called Lean coffees. \u00a0Holding regular Lean coffees is a great way of practicing continuous improvement with your team.<\/p>\n

You can use a Kanban board to capture pressing topics between sessions. Allow everyone on your team to add cards (representing issues to discuss) to this board, and hold a regular meeting to go through it. Use the board to keep your discussions focused by moving each card into the familiar lanes of \u201cTo Do, Doing, and Done\u201d.<\/p>\n

I like to schedule meetings back-to-back, on the same day with other team members; that way, we can stay in the mindset that our context will change rapidly. By having conversations back-to-back, we can cut down on \u201cknowledge transfer\u201d time if others have the same schedule for the meetings.<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n

Your brain operates in a LIFO (Last In First Out) method; thus, context switching can be extremely detrimental to your productivity \u2014 especially if you\u2019re being measured on the oldest thing on your to-do list. Keep track of your team\u2019s daily work on a Kanban board, to eliminate the need for status updates and make it easier to jump back into work if you get interrupted. Use a Kanban board to capture team problems that need to be discussed, and hold regular team sessions to collaborate to solve complex problems.<\/p>\n

If you see someone in the office in a hurry with their eyes lowered, go check their Kanban board to get a current status of their tasks instead of stopping them for a \u201cquick\u201d chat. We all want to feel important, needed and helpful \u2014 so most people will rarely choose not to help you if you stop them with a question. But these good intentions can be costly, and can lead to more frustration over time across your whole team.<\/p>\n

Going from working in an environment that did not use task visualization to working in an environment that lives by it, it\u2019d be very difficult to go back to the old way. It\u2019s so much better to see your work flow and watch day-to-day problems get solved visually\u2026 all while avoiding unnecessary, costly context switching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The dreaded question, \u201cDo you have five minutes?\u201d seems to be relatively harmless on the surface; who doesn\u2019t have five minutes to spare? Everyone wants to be helpful \u2014 which is why you\u2019re always willing to put down what you\u2019re doing to hear your coworker\u2019s burning questions. Then, you struggle to wrap your head around…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[511],"class_list":["post-12171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-work-collaboration","tag-leankit"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe True Cost of Context Switching - Blog | Planview<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The dreaded question, \u201cDo you have five minutes?\u201d seems to be relatively harmless on the surface; who doesn\u2019t have five minutes to spare?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/do-you-have-5-minutes-the-true-cost-of-context-switching\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do You Have 5 Minutes? 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