In the area of project management a methodology has grown a lot in recent years: the SCRUM methodology, which is part of what they call Agile Methodologies. Far from me wanting to review the methodology, or tell what it is, but just share a thought - or change of thought - that has taken over me since I met the methodology.
First, according to Jeff Sutherland creator of SCRUM, to be agile is to understand that:
Planning is useful. Blindly following plans is stupid.
Deliver what creates value for the customer quickly and with quality.
Fail fast so that you can correct the problem as soon as possible.
Interfunctionality: The team must have all the capabilities needed to complete a project, whether the mission is to deliver software or to capture terrorists in Iraq.
Multitasking is dumbing down.
Half-doing is not doing.
No scrounging: don't be one and don't tolerate this kind of behavior (emotional chaos).
Did you notice something strange? Yes! Multitasking is dumbing down! It's funny because I've seen in many job descriptions demanding a "multitasker" profile, a person capable of "doing several things at once". This is because the idea of multitasking is mistakenly associated with a "Triathlete" in the corporate world, a professional who pedals, runs, and swims. When the image we should have is that of a juggler riding a unicycle while trying to keep all the objects in the air. It may work in the beginning, but it would certainly be better if he did one activity at a time.
Jeff proposes an exercise to the readers of his book, "The Art of Doing Double the Work in Half the Time": Write 0 to 10 in Arabic numbers, then in Roman numerals, and finally the first 11 letters of the alphabet. Time how long it takes you to do that sequence. And then time how long it would take you to do the same sequence, but trying to finish each number first, and not each type of digit, i.e.: write first 0 in Arabic, 0 in Roman, first letter of the alphabet, then 1 in Arabic... and so on.
You will notice that clearly your income has dropped, but Jeff goes further, and shows that in projects, when we dedicate ourselves to only 1 project, we have 100% of the income, but when we move to having 2 projects, our income drops to only 40% for each project. This means that we are able to use only 80% of our capacity, and the other 20% is wasted between switching from one project to another and the productivity drop that occurs in our mind.
When I worked in Holland, my teacher and mentor said that I should study the project and try to solve it by dedicating myself to the project all day long. If I needed to rest, that would be a whole day of rest, the important thing was never to interrupt an activity. And only go on to the next one when I had already delivered what was asked of me.
Many times we have demands and deliveries that require our immediate attention, and we have to deal with different tasks at the same time. This is very common in a functional hierarchy, used by large companies, with a vast portfolio of products that need attention all the time. But it is less common in projected corporations where the project manager has total autonomy to manage his project, and the company is guided by the realization of such projects.
It is said that in fact the professional must be Interfunctional, capable of solving problems in different areas, having different functions, but that these functions must be executed one at a time, and not all at the same time. This way the professional will guarantee his versatility, but will maintain his high performance.
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