Splitting time on a project into small chunks, especially with day (or days) gaps between, adds a fairly hefty context-switching tax. Related: a 100% full schedule has bad effects on us, our work, and our colleagues.
Context switching
Some of the things that can take a hit:
- we compromise the quality of our work
- we lose some of our attention to detail
- we leave things unfinished
- we’re less productive: the same amount of work takes longer overall
- we create technical debt (and design debt and …)
- we’re more mentally tired from the extra effort of switching and re-switching
In particular, coming back to an accessiblity audit after a context-switch takes a long time. We deliver our best work on audits when we can keep a lot of it in our head at once.
Related: limiting WIP (Work In Progress)
More WIP means:
- more work that could wrong
- more things taking up head space, apart from just the one thing we’re working on right now
- feeling productive because we’re touching lots of tasks (but that’s not the same as being more productive)
- less time and space to think
- more context switching!
A little wiggle room
When there’s some slack in the schedule, when we’re not booked to 100%:
- we have capacity to deal with unexpected things and interruptions
- we give our brains time to rest, process, recharge
- we have room to correct any errors error
- we have time to improve through reflection and adaptation
- we can be creative because we have time to be
- we are able to help our colleagues
- we can learn new skills
What to do
- Limit context-switching, so that can keep delivering high quality work and don’t get burnt out
- Limit WIP, so that we finish things and are more productive
- Leave some space in the schedule, so that we don’t feel rushed and can handle interruptions and unexpected events more gracefully