Multitasking, we all seem to be doing it but is it a good thing or a bad thing?
Edited 4/1/2004 8:17 pm ET by Jerrald Hayes
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Edited 4/1/2004 8:17 pm ET by Jerrald Hayes
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Guess it would depend on multitasking what?
Trim and cabinetry installations ... sure .. good idea.
Heart surgery and trash duty .... probably a bad idea.
For me ... pretneding to run a company and actually do 90% of the field work ... so far so good ...
Pretending to run a company while doing the field work ... And ... doing the payroll/taxes ... bad idea ... that's why I "sub" that out to someone much smarter than me in that field ... my accountant.
So .. I guess my real answer ... would be ...
multi-tasking things that others could do better/more efficient/ same quality but cheaper ..... bad idea.
You have to try to keep the inner control freak in line.
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
What about multi-tasking by working on more than just one client project at a time?
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Sorry to butt in jerrald, but how about dumb?
On another note-185 mil salary...............
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Edited 4/1/2004 10:01 pm ET by calvin
"What about multi-tasking by working on more than just one client project at a time?"
While I'm not a contractor, I don't see how you could help but have 2 or 3 projects going at a time.
Like if you're working on a kitchen remodel and the cabinets don't come in on time. You can't just shut the company down and send everybody home. You have to have somewhere else to send them.
I sure wish I could do a plan from start to finish with no interruptions. But it just don't happen. Right now I'm waiting on an answer on a vaulted ceiling under a hip which is impossible. (Thanks to a CAD jockey who doesn't know what they're doing) So I have no choice but to move on to another project and come ack to that one.
It stinks, but it's part of the game.I have the body of a God. Buddha.
---"Trim and cabinetry installations ... sure .. good idea."---
Oh, how I disagree with you on that one!
We received the cabinets (that by the way are beautiful and very well made) and the fellow had been by to measure for ALL of them, with the builder and myself looking as he wrote, to be sure he didn't misunderstand any of the specs we had.
The cabinets and installers arrived and they had one too short by 24", one too long by 12", one too tall by 6", one with a door missing, wondering if "I wanted a door in the broom closet in the pantry/utility room, since it didn't have one?" and some cabinets missing altogether, an 8' one, part bookcase and one vanity cabinet of three.
The excuse? He had people coming in and out of the office while he was transferring his notes to the computer for the drawings for the shop crew.
'Nuff said about multitasking. It is a really bad idea in cabinetry.
Edited 4/2/2004 3:27 pm ET by Ruby
I'd agree with Jeff....both good and bad.
The first thing that comes to mind when you mention multi-tasking is my cell phone. It is surely a love/hate relationship. I love that I can be on my way to a job (yeah I know...talking and driving don't mix) and be making phone calls to subs, suppliers, and customers.
But I HATE being disturbed while I'm trying to work. I guess I just like the outgoing part of cell phones. Today I put a brand new six panel oak door up on a set of horses as the phone rings. It's my kitchen designer/cabinet supplier, Chad. As I'm talking to Chad about an upcoming remodel I begin to stain the door. When I get off the phone I realize that I've started to stain the side of the door which faces into the bathroom and is supposed to be white to match the wainscotting instead of staining the side which matches the oak hallway. That was poor multi-tasking.
I do like to be onsite whenever possible to supervise my subs. However, I don't like to hover over them or even appear to be hovering and I'd lose my mind if I just stood around. So when the plumber or plasterer or whoever is going to be onsite I make sure I've got a day's worth of odd-ball or catch-up type stuff to do onsite a little out of the way of the mix. Sometimes I'll run job related errands or do a quick estimate while they are there. This allows me to keep my eye on everything and still be productive. I'm probably no alone in doing this sort of thing.
Not sure if this was quite what you meant by multi-tasking, but is my caveman version of it. Another necessary evil I guess.
This ought to be good debate fodder.
I personally have a very strong dislike for trying to run more than one thing at a time. Does it ever happen, of course. But I feel like they're paying me to get a job done and I owe it to the customer to focus on THAT until it's a done deal. Reality, though. If you have a sub in there for a couple of days, what to do, twiddle thumbs? My solution, which I'm honestly amazed has panned out as well as it has, it to go ahead and take on little jobs - call them what you will, handyman stuff, punch list, whatever. I'm up front with those people that scheduling is typically "as available" and likely to be short notice. But I also make the effort to coordinate things so I know that when the plumber is at this job, I can take the afternoon and still be doing something productive for someone else.
But I know tons of people that get worried if they aren't running five, ten things at once. But I also see the headaches, the communication lapses, the confusion. I only know one guy who can have as many jobs going as he has fingers and actually manage them well, and the downside for him is the time requirement to do so. Not quite your bankers hours.
There's a degree of personal preference in the equation as to just what kind of business you are or want to be. There's guys like me, like Jeff Buck, like Andy - we limit the scope because we prefer to be the guy doing the work. Our work, our standards, our performance - that's the trademark, and if we're still here and surviving, it's bankable. People can count on you - that's a good place to be.
Then there's the friend. Much more corporate mentality. Does plenty of hands on work, but not tied to it. Perfectly content to be management and oversight of the subs, to run the scheduling and coordination and make site visits with regularity to make sure everything is going according to plan. He's selling a business name, and is doing business in a less personal way than I. And that works for him.
If you can't tell from our earlier discussions, I'm pretty leary anymore of tagging philosophies with labels. Lots of different ideas have their place. I'm mostly big on just defining what your game plan is and sticking to it like a second religion. So long as the customer knows what they're getting and what to expect - clearly defined from the start, I don't know that there's an appreciable difference to them whether or not the contractor is just giving them the product they want, or being the kind of guy they'd offer a cup of coffee to while he's working at their place.
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain
Well thought out RW.Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
I've found that, for the most part, multitasking is effective.
You can get into trouble when, at the same time, you try to post on Breaktime and also
Jon Blakemore
Jerrald, are you researching a book or something? You post a brief question but no comments on the topic yourself.
Well yeah I have been working on a book (or working on laying the ground work for a MBA thesis) and have been doing that for about a year and a half now however I'm not really researching anything other than trying to find out what contractors think. I will often at times ask questions on a topic without any commentary on my part so that I don't taint the pool of answers and responses with my own opinions right of the bat. Sometimes I want to see what others think and get some real original thinking rather than just responses to what I have to say. I rather explore through dialog than lecture. I certainly don't think I have all the answers.
A year ago I asked the troops I work with to work on redesigning the processes of how we were doing curved stair and rail fabrication. I was pretty sure there were a lot of inefficiencies in what we were doing and working them out of the system I knew would result in better earning for the company. I actually gave them some print outs of some of Stan and Armins posts here regarding stairs along with every FHB, Journal of Light Construction and Custom Woodworking Business magazine article I knew of regarding stairs and railings plus every stair and railing catalog and book in my library. I then left them alone for six weeks to talk about it amongst themselves without any contribution, input or influence from me before I attended any of the meetings on it. I ended up getting some really creative and constructive ideas that I probably never would have gotten had I been directing the meeting and the dialog up until that point.
Likewise I think if I just came out here and started out talking about how bad and counter-productive multitasking is citing all the articles and research references on it that would sort of steer or at least direct the topic a little too much in one direction. For as much as I think multitasking is detrimental and dangerous there are situations and/or tasks where it's necessary and even benificial (IF it's looked at and approached in the correct context).
The problem with it amongst contractors (at least its been my observation) is a lot of us carry it as a badge of pride or toughness, our being able to keep so many things going all at once, and then we tend to let it get way out of hand or lose control altogether when a case of Murphy hits only one task but then that cascades and takes down all the other tasks going on around it too.
Attention Is a Finite Resource. People have a finite amount of attention available at any moment, it's not limitless. "Attention could be thought of as a fuel that can be dispersed. Thus, tasks can be performed simultaneously with efficiency as long as the required attention for both tasks does not exceed the limit." In other words, a person can multitask effectively as long as any given task doesn't require too much attention and thereby exhaust his resources.
It's an extreme example but it illustrative or what often goes on. A baseball player who up at bat is not going to do his best getting a hit if he is also thinking about how he is going to position himself in the field in certain situations in next half of an inning. A carpenter is not going to do his best figuring out how to cut helical easing on stair railing installation if he or she is also thinking, planning out, and problem solving a kitchen casework installation they are also working on at the same time.
Additionally if that carpenter stops work on the railing installation after a half a day to put in half a day on the casework installation how much time is lost or wasted shifting gears and setting up again both literally with the physical tools and equipment and perhaps even more importantly with rebooting the mental processes that go on.
And then even again lets say that each time that carpenter switches or starts up a different task it takes an hour to get into the swing of things and get a rhythm down. A day starts out with a hour of getting into the stair railing installation and three hours of work where things "clicked". The carpenter then switches to the kitchen casework installation and it takes an hour to get up to speed again on that and then things start to "click" with that process too. Then one day a small problem (Murphy) comes up with the stair installation that can't be walked away from and takes an additional hour and a half . Then when the carpenter finally gets to the kitchen casework installation that day the ratio of "getting up to speed" to "real productive time" goes from 1:3 to 1:1.5.
As that carpenter multitasks with even more tasks the efficiency ratios drop even further. However if that carpenter isn't multitasking at all then the ratio of "getting up to speed" to "real productive time" jumps up to 1:7 for each task.
Okay? Just some of my thoughts, certainly not all of them yet but a few. This was from the multitasking is bad pile.
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"Attention Is a Finite Resource. People have a finite amount of attention available at any moment, it's not limitless. "Attention could be thought of as a fuel that can be dispersed. Thus, tasks can be performed simultaneously with efficiency as long as the required attention for both tasks does not exceed the limit." In other words, a person can multitask effectively as long as any given task doesn't require too much attention and thereby exhaust his resources. "
I'll just copy/paste that and sign my name to it.
Personally ... I go with the previous stated opinion of giving my all to that specific customer ... then moving on.
I will throw in the smaller odd job here and there to fill some down time .. which there never is ... but I find life much easier ... and profitable ... both biz/personal ... if I fill my little head with as few details to remember as possible.
One job running at a time is plenty ... sometimes one is one too many!
While I'm in stream of conscience here ... I also make a point(if possible) to work around subs that I fully trust to be given the job descrip and left alone. Many days I'll spend running around just to stay out of their way ... or ... knowing full well that I'd just waste time at home ... I'mm go in with the briefcase and note pad ... and work on the next job or bid somewhere way off to the side ... not to check on them ... but to make sure I'm out of the house and not laying on the couch napping!
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Jeff, one thing I have learned also is that once the client get's you in the house several other idea's come up suddenly. Learn to avoid the distractions and pay attention at hand. Remind those clients immediately.
ogee
I agree with Buck; having more than one client at a time is like being married to two women at the same time.You can say u love both but in the end one is going to shorted ; i.e. not getting ur full "attention" .Almost every contractor i know who likes to juggle lots of clients suffers from the too many pans on the fire syndrome and always has people pissed off at them.
As far as multitasking "tasks" I have to do it here because of lack of good available labor or familiarity with the materials or techiques(historic restoration) Alot of the houses Ive built have been with no subs other than the mason. So the windows didnt come in ?...ill work on the electrical... .My "subs" come in everyday the same time as me ..are easy to schedule with..and and dont leave cigg. butts or chew/spit bottles every where..because theyre me. Being a jack of all can be hard and limiting but when u have a finite labor pool and who u want on ur job it comes down to CONTROL .Its not even a ego thing its just maintaining the vision of quality and standards ur reputation and self image requires.
Ive had clients just about kiss my feet when i tell them i only work one job at a time.They feel..special . Anyway its hard enuf to sleep some nights wondering how to trim out Lady x's widow seat without wondering Mr.G's cedar fascia return.EEgads! ..just the thought gives me the willys.
If we are most concerned about the efficiency and quality of a specific task, there is no question that multi-tasking is bad. One need only look at the time that it takes to deal with punchlist problems to know this.
BUT...We still have a company to run. We are not going to send everybody home because we are missing a part or waiting for a sub to show up. On a larger project I always try to keep one task available that we can work on as needed or in bad weather. At the beginning and end of a project, there is too much slack time for the full crew and I need to find other jobs to send people to work on. As another poster mentioned this is an opportunity to take on the handyman type work that many of our old customers want us to do.
Is this a strain on our organizational skills? You bet. Does it lower our efficiency? Without a doubt. We continue to do it because the flexibility allows us to maintain a steadier stream of work.
I'd be surpriised if anyone here thought that multi-tasking was a good thing for its own sake. I would always avoid it if I could. Trouble is, my world doesn't work that way, and it sounds like many of you are in the same situation. I envy anybody who is in a position to tackle one job at a time.
John
For me multi-tasking is a necessary evil as usually one job will spawn 4 others and most of my small pool of clients become repeats. The biggest obstacle to multi-tasking for me often ends up being traffic and location, running around to get estimates/materials etc.. is impossible to coordinate since the work is all in the city/metropolitan area where different times of day make a 15minute drive an hour and 15 minute drive. Leaving a site to pickup a custom made stainless steel unit from the metal guy at the wrong time of day could turn a short trip into a 3 hour voyage that ends in me going home in frustration. I often wish I was a night owl and could work the late shifts, seems those guys can be a lot more efficient sometimes.
-Ray