Part of attention stays with an unfinished task after switching, degrading the next one.
Sophie Leroy's 2009 experiments found that people switching tasks under time pressure carried measurable residue into the next task. It is the reason a calendar with six thirty-minute meetings yields less than three hours of work.
In practice
- A developer interrupted for a five-minute question loses the next twenty getting back to where they were.
- A parent who checks work email during a bedtime story is present for neither.
- Subject
- Creativity & Work
- Essay
- What gets in the way of good work