Ask HN: Best way to deal with multitasking / context switching?

2 points by collyw 12y ago ↗ HN

I am the "database guy" for a sequencing centre. I have built the database and web front end from scratch, and the organization has grown over the last 3 years since I started there.

There are a number of major improvement that could be made to the system, but as it is live, I find I am unable to work on anything that takes more than a couple of days coding, as I am always interrupted by trivial but "urgent" things that need fixed. (Most of the time it is user input errors - they insist on using excel for uploading data, despite it being a very error prone process).

Does anyone have advice for working on something that requires more effort, while there are constant interruptions?

3 comments

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Styn 12y ago ↗

Try splitting up the larger task in smaller parts and use a todo list/task backlog to check of the smaller parts. Looking at the list of tasks also makes it easier to get into the mindset you were in when solving the issue.

alexmorse 12y ago ↗

Your best bet is breaking up the larger effort tasks into many smaller effort tasks. You need to refactor 3 libraries? Refactor one function at a time. Keep good notes on what you've done and what still needs to be done. Continually make small progress.

Set aside DND time on the calendar where your team knows that you are not to be interrupted unless the servers are on fire.

kinj28 12y ago ↗

You can use pomodoro technique. Go on radio silence while you are working. Set the expectations right of the folks who expect you to service their issues.

Use seperate tools to segregate internal work vs external work. For eg. We use our own product teamgum.com which is designed to reduce context switching while working in a team.