Discussion Forum > Restricted selection of next tasks = higher productivity?
I will appreciate your comments - what do you think, how important is such factor for you, what are your experiences...?
March 8, 2016 at 20:32 |
Daneb
Daneb
Daneb:
Against that, you have to take into account that research has shown that workers have less stress and are happier the more control they have over their work.
http://hbr.org/2014/01/employees-perform-better-when-they-can-control-their-space/
I'm not sure how the balance works out!
Against that, you have to take into account that research has shown that workers have less stress and are happier the more control they have over their work.
http://hbr.org/2014/01/employees-perform-better-when-they-can-control-their-space/
I'm not sure how the balance works out!
March 8, 2016 at 21:09 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Mark, thanks, I agree. When I think about it, I think that between freedom and happiness is not linear but inverted-U relationship. Correct/appropriate level of freedom is necessary (I mean psychological freedom, not in philosophical or theological sense). One reason why people become employees is that they voluntarily (and happily) give up some of their freedom for some level of certainty, predictability, absence of concern. Of course, having more freedom in controlling their work time or defining home-office days or arranging their table is helpful for their satisfaction. But there are limits in such freedom - which are basically reasons why they decided to become employees - and in case we would give them "such" freedom (=also risk, unpredictability), they would not be happy.
I think that task management is similar: for example, all your methods/algorithms/heuristics, from autofocus to no-list system are...set of rules which somehow limit people`s freedom (how to choose tasks now, how to deal with one`s work) in exchange for certainty, easiness, conserving mental energy...=higher productivity. The same reason is why we use habits/routines so often. Because there is a fringe where freedom meets decision and too many decision possibilities mean decision fatigue, paralysis analysis or bare discontentment.
And now - one aspect of so-limited freedom (in exchange for higher productivity) might be also pre-selection of tasks/series of tasks. Of course - our basic freedom lies in defining such tasks, decision to do them at all etc.
Well, I am just thinking aloud, I will see how my experiments will be.
I think that task management is similar: for example, all your methods/algorithms/heuristics, from autofocus to no-list system are...set of rules which somehow limit people`s freedom (how to choose tasks now, how to deal with one`s work) in exchange for certainty, easiness, conserving mental energy...=higher productivity. The same reason is why we use habits/routines so often. Because there is a fringe where freedom meets decision and too many decision possibilities mean decision fatigue, paralysis analysis or bare discontentment.
And now - one aspect of so-limited freedom (in exchange for higher productivity) might be also pre-selection of tasks/series of tasks. Of course - our basic freedom lies in defining such tasks, decision to do them at all etc.
Well, I am just thinking aloud, I will see how my experiments will be.
March 8, 2016 at 23:06 |
Daneb
Daneb
I've always had problems with systems that *insist* I limit my choices to a certain set of options or a specific limited list of tasks or whatever. Sometimes reality gets in the way, and "the rules" force me to go "outside the system" to deal with that reality. If that happens repeatedly, it makes the system unworkable for me.
In other words, intelligent constraints are helpful but they can backfire if the constraint is too strong.
I think no-list systems like 5T provide a great solution, with total freedom, but no decision fatigue.
For example, I usually start the day by writing everything down that's on my mind. I write it on my white board.
Sometimes there are just 3-4 items because they are really pressing and nothing else can compete. That's easy -- no decision fatigue at all. Just get to work.
But sometimes I can think of 10-12+ things that come to mind immediately. So I write them all down. Then I do a quick FVP-style sort to choose the "top 5" items. That takes about 30 seconds. I delete all the others, and start working.
If deleting an item makes me nervous, because it's something I really need to remember, then I make sure I capture it: email it to myself, or add a reminder in Outlook, or add it to my deliverables list, or whatever. Then I delete it from the whiteboard. That typically takes another minute.
The result is:
- Total freedom to work on whatever seems most important
- Fast process to decide what to work on -- but very little decision fatigue because there are very few decisions to make!
- Limited WIP = focus = very few decisions to make while actually working = no decision fatigue
If the situation changes during the day, I just erase the white board and start over.
In other words, intelligent constraints are helpful but they can backfire if the constraint is too strong.
I think no-list systems like 5T provide a great solution, with total freedom, but no decision fatigue.
For example, I usually start the day by writing everything down that's on my mind. I write it on my white board.
Sometimes there are just 3-4 items because they are really pressing and nothing else can compete. That's easy -- no decision fatigue at all. Just get to work.
But sometimes I can think of 10-12+ things that come to mind immediately. So I write them all down. Then I do a quick FVP-style sort to choose the "top 5" items. That takes about 30 seconds. I delete all the others, and start working.
If deleting an item makes me nervous, because it's something I really need to remember, then I make sure I capture it: email it to myself, or add a reminder in Outlook, or add it to my deliverables list, or whatever. Then I delete it from the whiteboard. That typically takes another minute.
The result is:
- Total freedom to work on whatever seems most important
- Fast process to decide what to work on -- but very little decision fatigue because there are very few decisions to make!
- Limited WIP = focus = very few decisions to make while actually working = no decision fatigue
If the situation changes during the day, I just erase the white board and start over.
March 9, 2016 at 18:45 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
It turns out that ego depletion / decision fatigue is a theory which can't be reproduced, and may or may not actually be true at all:
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/cover_story/2016/03/ego_depletion_an_influential_theory_in_psychology_may_have_just_been_debunked.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/cover_story/2016/03/ego_depletion_an_influential_theory_in_psychology_may_have_just_been_debunked.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top
March 9, 2016 at 21:21 |
Don R
Don R
Don R - Thanks for posting this! I've always had my doubts about the cookie experiment but had no idea there were so many variations of the experiment and that they were so methodologically flawed.
In any case, with FVP, I don't think the feeling of "decision fatigue" is a depletion of the willpower to make decisions. I think it's simpler than that. When you're making a long series of qualitative decisions, the distinctions between items start to blur, and it can get tiring to keep trying to find distinctions where there probably aren't any. But this is probably a sign that you are not working the process as Mark intended. He always said he would ask the question to himself, and then scan the list for the next item that really popped out. This is a lot different than stopping at each item and weighing it over, yes or no, more or less, etc. That is really time-consuming and can get exhausting, and is not how Mark intended the process to work.
In any case, with FVP, I don't think the feeling of "decision fatigue" is a depletion of the willpower to make decisions. I think it's simpler than that. When you're making a long series of qualitative decisions, the distinctions between items start to blur, and it can get tiring to keep trying to find distinctions where there probably aren't any. But this is probably a sign that you are not working the process as Mark intended. He always said he would ask the question to himself, and then scan the list for the next item that really popped out. This is a lot different than stopping at each item and weighing it over, yes or no, more or less, etc. That is really time-consuming and can get exhausting, and is not how Mark intended the process to work.
March 10, 2016 at 13:13 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
Psychologists speak nowadays a lot about decision fatigue, ego depletion - limiting number of our choices (which also equals limiting number of decisions per se, not only limiting things among which we choose) is sometimes paradoxically better for our self-control, happiness and productivity. That is why our repeated concern for habits, routines etc.
So, among popular methods I can think of:
- Scheduling your tasks in calendar (scheduling blocks of times for most important projects which you do as time says)
- Schwabb/eat the frog system (sorting daily tasks by importance/resistance/unpleasantness and doing in this order)
- Final version - preselect a list and do in this order (FVP has slightly reduced this factor by reviewing tasks bellow completed tasks)
- Randomness (one of the most remarkable Mark`s discovery IMO, do tasks the order of ...well... randomness - not your will)
- 5T system (or how it is called - system from Mark`s last book - 5 predefined tasks, doing strictly in the order in which tasks are listed)
- Rotating predefined tasks for 5-10-15 minutes etc.(very interesting method from Mark`s Get Everything Done)- again, order is strictly set.
- (also SMEMA but in other way)
So when I think about it, eliminating decisions (not to decide what exactly your each next task will be 50-70 times/day but reduce such decisions by 2x 5x 10x...) is one of effective factors.
I am going to experiment with this factor more: To find the right balance WHEN decision/preselection is appropriate/helpful, how often I need to decide for (series of) next tasks and when such decision/schedule starts to be rigid/unflexible = how long "preselected chains" suits me best, which I guess will vary among various people/personalities.