Let’s Celebrate Context-Switching
Jurgen Appelo
Navigating AI between hype and doom. Author, speaker, entrepreneur, radical synthesist, resolute unfixer, and unabashed rule-breaker.
Not a week goes by without someone arguing with me on Facebook or LinkedIn about context-switching. Usually, they confuse it with multi-tasking or interruptions
They are so wrong.
Part of my time, I work with my team on the unFIX model. We are adding new patterns on?Time Commitments,?Participation Levels,?Common Roles, and many more. To further evolve the model, I need inspiration from reading, workshops, meetups
A significant part of my time, I like to be creative. I love making?presentation slides,?writing blog posts, and designing?game cards. None of these are full-time jobs. I don't want to make presentations all week long; I don't want to write blog posts forty hours per week, and I have no intention of being a full-time game card designer. I enjoy the?variety?of creative jobs
And sometimes, I want to close myself off from the world and focus on?writing my novel. Some day, when I grow up, I want to earn my income as a book author and nothing else. But it's tough to make a good living as a full-time writer. Very few can pull that off. And most only achieve that by, for quite a long time, switching between what they love and what pays the bills
If context-switching is so bad, maybe people can explain what Michelangelo did wrong by being a sculptor?and?painter?and?architect?and?poet.
If context-switching is so bad, maybe people should stop arguing with me, as I don't believe debating on social media is a full-time job that pays well.
Telling people to work in only one context exclusively is like preaching monogamy to teenagers. Stop being delusional.?I celebrate my context-switching.
If I didn't switch between different contexts, I could not innovate, I would not keep myself happy, and I would not be able to work on my dream job.
Jurgen
p.s. If you want to do context-switching safely and responsibly, check out our new patterns on?Time Commitments,?Participation Levels,?and?Common Roles.
p.p.s. Read my recent blog post, "The First CX Test: Where's My Invoice?"
p.p.p.s.?The unFIX shop is live. It sends you an invoice with a PDF you don’t have to fight for.
Calendar
unFIX Foundation Workshop - Open 1 [ES]?online?on?8 Apr 2023?with?Vladimir Baglietto
unFIX Foundation workshop [EN]?Milan?on?12 Apr 2023?with?Jurgen Appelo
unFIX Einführungs-Workshop (Deutsch) [DE]?Hamburg?on?13 Apr 2023?with?David Cummins
领英推荐
unFIX Foundation Core Workshop - München (Deutsch) [DE]?München?on?19 Apr 2023?with?Jürgen Dittmar
unFIX Online en Espa?ol (1 day workshop) [ES]?online?on?20 Apr 2023?with?Gerardo Barcia
unFIX Foundation Workshop - On LIne [ES]?online?on?22 Apr 2023?with?Vladimir Baglietto
unFIX Foundation Workshop - München [DE]?München?on?2 May 2023?with?Jürgen Dittmar
unFIX online Workshop (Deutsch) [DE]?online?on?2 May 2023?with?David Cummins
unFIX Foundation workshop [PT]?online?on?7 May 2023?with?Thiago Brant
unFIX Foundation Core Workshop - Weekend [DE]?online?on?12 May 2023?with?Jürgen Dittmar
unFIX Foundation workshop [EN]?Budapest?on?16 May 2023?with?Jurgen Appelo
unFIX Foundation (Small Groups - Online Workshop) [EN]?online?on?25 May 2023?with?Javier Camarasa Garcia
The Versatile Organization with the unFIX model [EN]?Bratislava?on?15 Jun 2023?with?Jurgen Appelo
unFIX Foundation Core Workshop - Frankfurt/Main (Deutsch) [DE]?Frankfurt am Main?on?21 Jun 2023?with?Jürgen Dittmar
unFIX Foundation Core Workshop - München (Deutsch) [DE]?München?on?21 Jun 2023?with?Jürgen Dittmar
unFIX Foundation Workshop - München [DE]?München?on?3 Jul 2023?with?Jürgen Dittmar
unFIX Foundation Workshop - München [DE]?Frankfurt am Main?on?25 Sep 2023?with?Jürgen Dittmar
other type of unFIX event [EN]?Berlin?on?8 Nov 2023?with?unFIX Core Team
unFIX Foundation Workshop - München [DE]?München?on?15 Nov 2023?with?Jürgen Dittmar
Free Spirit XLII
1 年I wonder if forced rule of no context switching leads to procrastination? And also what happens to those creative people who feel stressed out without context switching, but whose jobs do not allow them so. Do they die? End up in misery? The LinkedIn is a whole survivorship bias platform regarding to business success.
Transforming organizations through agility | KCP | KMP | CXP | KPP | Bizagi Certified Professional | Certified Scrum Master | ABPMP CBPP Blue Seal? | OCEB II?
1 年I just thought of a parallel with TPS. In manufacturing they also face the challenge of "context switching". The same machine needs a different set up for each different product it processes. This changeover usually incurs in waste (downtime), so they need to find ways to level up the production according to demand (e.g Heyjunka), but they are always trying to find ways to allow fast changeovers in order to be more "agile" (e.g. SMED) It is interesting... context switching is a needed reallity... instead of fighting against it, let's find ways manage it well. I'd love to apply SMED on my brain synaptic changes ??
Agile; Neurodiversity; Community Building
1 年Am I the only one who gets rubbed the wrong way when you comparing it with 'preaching monogamy to teenagers'? There is nothing wrong about having one partner at the same time!
Partner and Director at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Enterprise Agility (Agile at Scale)
1 年I can relate to your post and the way you frame "context switching". I feel the "Issue" with context switching is that typically is defined differently and the criticism relates to - unconscious context switching: Consciously switching a context is not a bad thing, in fact it is necessary (as you describe). - high frequency context switching, i.e. parallel multitasking, is preventing you getting in a Flow and Focus state - externally forced context switching, like random interruptions, creates inefficiencies when I want to go back to the context I selected.
?? Partenaire stratégique | Coach PCC | Top 50 Favikon | Ma?trisez l'art de la performance basée sur les Neurosciences??
1 年Let's celebrate how much each of us is different. It remind me that quote "Don't trust what I say, just experience it and see if it resonates with you"