[teampractices] [Discussion] Term for always prepping for the next thing

[Max Binder]

Thanks, Rob. It sounds to me like this particular case is a lack of good
prioritization, and tasks that are different enough from one another to
feel like context-switching even when doing one thing at at time.

Everything is set at an equally high priority, with each upcoming task
usurping the priority of the current task. There are no low priority
moments because stress of the upcoming tasks is the motivator to do the
work. I also do believe that context-switching is not limited to the
traditional phrase "multitasking," in that you can still do one thing at a
time, but if you don't carve out capacity for preparing to do work then you
can't execute when it is time to.

In this case, I would say priorities need to be set, and time needs to be
made between tasks/meetings in order to get into the right mindset,
particularly if the tasks are quite different from an execution standpoint.

Were there a term for this...

On Sat, Sep 5, 2015 at 12:16 PM, Rob Lanphier <robla at wikimedia.org> wrote:

> On Fri, Sep 4, 2015 at 1:27 PM, Max Binder <mbinder at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
>> The future tasks matter, but so do the current tasks, and yet in order to
>> execute the next task, a sacrifice is made to current productivity.
>>
>
> I think the term you may be looking for is "analysis paralysis
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis_paralysis>".  It's not a perfect
> fit, but it seems reasonably close to what you're describing.  It's good to
> have a limited number of people in any particular organization focused on
> planning out "the next thing", but it takes a lot of skill on *everyone's* part
> to ensure that the presence of that focus doesn't lead to organizational
> analysis paralysis.
>
> Rob
>
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