Women 'better at multitasking' than men, study finds

[orpheus]

I don't believe that Orph, you've got to be one of the best multitaskers around. You can tell if the 2nd clarinet hits a bloody B flat, all the while not fucking up anything else and keeping an eye on the tuba players. Can't trust the tuba players.

Is a tuba player a "tubist"?

(don't tell anyone - we're all fakes.)

Seriously, I hadn't thought of that, lak. There may be natural ability there (hard to say about oneself), but I think a lot of it is a matter of training. Like most conductors, when I started conducting, the whole cello section could have been playing a different piece and I wouldn't have noticed. Just a matter of overload - having to pay attention to too many things all at once. Through training and experience it gradually (very gradually) got better.

Another reason I think it's a matter of training is that it's the one area in which I can do it. In every other area of life I'm hopeless at multitasking.

Re tuba players: I guess "tubist" is technically correct. Sounds funny though. I mean the word. The instrument always sounds funny. Except when it sounds bloody frighteningly awful.

And yes, can't trust 'em at all.

[Azathoth]

Fuck multitasking. It is a surefire way to do everything badly. Read the tasks, decide on an order and do them one at a time

[JimC]

Fuck multitasking. It is a surefire way to do everything badly. Read the tasks, decide on an order and do them one at a time

So, not into parallel programming, Aza?

[Azathoth]

Fuck multitasking. It is a surefire way to do everything badly. Read the tasks, decide on an order and do them one at a time

So, not into parallel programming, Aza?

parallel programming is more like having a team all working on different aspects of the same task. Multitasking is like trying to get shit done with a bad scheduler

[Tero]

I'm shopping! And posting! And running s survey!

Result: women not using shopping carts as imaginatively as men...just the occasional toddler in one

Man loaded one with 2 toddlers, beer and charcoal.

[JimC]

I'm shopping! And posting! And running s survey!

Result: women not using shopping carts as imaginatively as men...just the occasional toddler in one

Man loaded one with 2 toddlers, beer and charcoal.

Clearly atheists!

Toddlers on a spit, with beer!

[Blind groper]

Aza is correct.

There was a study published in Management journal several decades back which looked at multi-tasking versus focussed effort.

Every time, the multi-tasker was less productive. The way to actually accomplish stuff is to list your tasks in priority order, work on the one at the top till it is finished before starting the next one. This focussed effort outperforms the multi-tasker every time.

Certainly there will be some jobs that require multi-tasking. A receptionist has to drop everything to talk to people at any moment. But receptionists are lousy at producing stuff like typing, due to being interrupted all the time.

[Pappa]

Fuck multitasking. It is a surefire way to do everything badly. Read the tasks, decide on an order and do them one at a time

Often you don't have a choice though. In my job I'm expected to work on my own tasks while dealing with multiple interruptions. Some of these, like design reviews or code reviews can be postponed for a short while, sometimes they can't. Other tasks, like helping new developers, have to be dealt with immediately. It can be difficult to focus on a given task with so much context switching, but there's not much of an alternative.

[mistermack]

Fuck multitasking. It is a surefire way to do everything badly. Read the tasks, decide on an order and do them one at a time

Often you don't have a choice though. In my job I'm expected to work on my own tasks while dealing with multiple interruptions. Some of these, like design reviews or code reviews can be postponed for a short while, sometimes they can't. Other tasks, like helping new developers, have to be dealt with immediately. It can be difficult to focus on a given task with so much context switching, but there's not much of an alternative.

Horses for courses. I couldn't do that sort of thing as well as you. But some people are amazing, how they can juggle many things at once. I suppose practice would help.

Humans made it into an advantage, by living in tribes and large family groups. People naturally gravitate towards roles that they are good at. It makes the group stronger than the sum of the individuals.

[orpheus]

Aza is correct.

There was a study published in Management journal several decades back which looked at multi-tasking versus focussed effort.

Every time, the multi-tasker was less productive. The way to actually accomplish stuff is to list your tasks in priority order, work on the one at the top till it is finished before starting the next one. This focussed effort outperforms the multi-tasker every time.

Certainly there will be some jobs that require multi-tasking. A receptionist has to drop everything to talk to people at any moment. But receptionists are lousy at producing stuff like typing, due to being interrupted all the time.

I wonder what "stuff" the study included as things to accomplish. I can wash the dishes and have a casual conversation simultaneously, yes. But studying a score, for example, or composing, or reading a difficult book (or reading anything, really) -- those are tasks that require a lot more focused attention. Particularly things like composing or studying scores - these require deeper thought, and more to the point, they have no clearly defined structure that one can do on auto-pilot, or with partial attention.

Actually, I can't listen to music and do anything else at all. I can't have "background" music playing while I clean the apartment, for example. It's the way I was trained. The minute music comes on, I stop whatever else I'm doing, stand there with a vacuous look on my face, and listen analytically.

[Kristie]

Fuck multitasking. It is a surefire way to do everything badly. Read the tasks, decide on an order and do them one at a time

Often you don't have a choice though. In my job I'm expected to work on my own tasks while dealing with multiple interruptions. Some of these, like design reviews or code reviews can be postponed for a short while, sometimes they can't. Other tasks, like helping new developers, have to be dealt with immediately. It can be difficult to focus on a given task with so much context switching, but there's not much of an alternative.

Same thing with many of my evenings at home. I need to cook dinner, but the dishwasher needs unloaded and loaded and I need to keep an eye on the kids and I need to throw a couple cakes in the oven. I can very effectively do all of these and to stop and do just one at a time would take 4 times as long. Doing each separately would be very inefficient.

[laklak]

Depends on the definition of multitasking. What you're doing, Kristie, is "cooking". It has many component parts. As much as I like a clean dishwasher when I break out the bowls and spoons it rarely happens.

[Kristie]

Depends on the definition of multitasking. What you're doing, Kristie, is "cooking". It has many component parts. As much as I like a clean dishwasher when I break out the bowls and spoons it rarely happens.

Cooking and doing dishes are two completely different tasks. They do tend to go together, but I can definitely do the dishes without cooking and visa versa.

[JimC]

I can drink gin and post on the forum at the same time. Does that count?