The Art of Context Switching

It was 9:58PM and I was dialing into a call, bit exhausted, I was checking how many calls I have been on that day, there were 12 scheduled calls I have attended 2 unscheduled and that makes this one 15th and I have 1 more to go.

I did not do much physical labor, no heavy lifting, but why I do feel mentally tired? Why I feel a bit lost?

A recap of what I have been doing since morning, Got up at 7:15AM, walked the dog, got back home 7:50, made coffee, got into a 8AM call, then it was a series of calls, ate three bananas while being on the call. Some hours were double triple booked, but I chose the one I wanted to join, all sitting at the same place in my house just a few steps for bio breaks and by 12 noon I thought I was planning to grab a bite, but then came an adhoc call and it went on till 1235. I rushed down and heated up some food I made day before and took it to the desk attended another set of calls till 1pm to 615pm.

Took a break walked the dog did some work-out, at the same time thinking how can I make that PowerPoint better for next meeting, ate dinner and back to the desk for my 15th call.

The challenge is, the 14 previous calls I had were on 14 different topics, Mind was switching from topic to topic and different details and there was no commonality of the topics on all these calls. The Context of each call is different, and mind keep switching from one to the next and gets exhausted and sometimes slows you down. That is Context Switching.

Am I handling too many things or its too many things that came across this day as a coincidence? Looking at it, it was the case almost all the days just that the number of calls was ranging between 12-13. Its not only these calls, but there is also 200+ emails and chat messages that you need to attend to and reply, family needs that need to be addressed, which at times can be done over the weekend, but there are some daily needs popping up too.  I felt productive when I attended many calls, I enjoyed every single conversation too, but was I really productive? Do I remember what was discussed in the first few calls, did I manage to send out a summary of 2nd meeting when I am attending the 12th meeting? No, so if I write that summary after my 16th meeting will I capture every detail of that 2nd meeting? Probably not, it might have been lost from my mind in the context switching that happened.

When the last call ends at 12 midnight, can I jump into bed and sleep by 12:05?  The answer is NO! – the brain needs to cool down. So, it takes at least an hour to get back to a state when you can doze off.  And if you were one of those challenging calls, then sleeping becomes a challenge too.

So how do we manage this context switching?

Go over your next day calendar today itself – Get some idea what you have for the next day and what you need to focus if you are double and triple booked. Some meetings are booked well ahead and have slipped out of your mind. Reviewing the calendar helps your mind prepare what all will come in the next day and you may be able to do some homework too.

Prioritizing what you need to attend, everything is a priority, but there is always a priority too. Move what can wait. Talk to your manager.

Delegate to your team leads, easy to say, if you want to delegate, your team need to be at a level of maturity that you expect them to be at, to leave it peacefully in their hands. Can they make decisions on your behalf? If they attend a half hour call on your behalf and come back with topics to discuss for 2 hours, is it useful? So, give them the picture and your opinion, thoughts and let them cover on your behalf.

Spread it out to different days, yes, it is possible if you are the one setting up most of the call, however that is not always the case, it is a global working environment, and time zone factors needs to be respected to ensure its suitable for all participants. Book Asia only meetings in the Asia afternoon, Asia+EU+Americas sessions in the night, Americas + Asia in the morning. Share your time preference with your regular meeting mates, if you are a night owl, let them know you prefer a midnight call than 6AM call. Find that suitable overlap.

Plan sufficient time – Book 1hr if you feel there are topics that can go beyond 30 mins, then you can finish even in 40 mins and still get 20 mins break before your next meeting.  This helps you summarize and send a minutes before you get into next call. This avoids you running late for your next ones and having no time to recap.

Make sure you take a break, do some workout, avoid eating lunch and dinner at work desk, Go out for a walk or play a game during your break time. Block your calendar when you need your break or time off. 

Bottom-line, though you enjoy being on many meetings, optimizing the context changes make the best use of your every time spent on those, maximize the value you can add to those conversations. .