Comments on: Why one should be involved in more than one project at once

By: BogdanBocse

BogdanBocse — Thu, 06 May 2010 03:40:48 +0000

The most unexpected and crucial cost of accepting several challenges at the same time is task switching. Indeed, the time required to manage several processes simultaneously is more than the sum of times required to manage each of them.
...because you also need time to switch from one project (and mindset) to another. The number of context switches increases exponentially with the number of projects (and the number of tasks within each project).

Moreover, the human mind isn't built for context switching. What at first seems exciting and stimulating soon becomes psychologically tiring.

In my personal experience, if you divide focus between several projects you end up keeping just one (and dumping the others) or you adapt to become robot-minded (lacking inspiration, perspective, imagination and all the other stuff you cannot outsource).

By: ErzengelRaph

ErzengelRaph — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:53:43 +0000

Doing some projects at the same time is a good idea. The key is how many you do.

By: Andrej Nabergoj

Andrej Nabergoj — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:11:28 +0000

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the 100 other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the many things we haven't done as the things we have done.” Steve Jobs

By: Mihai Mafteianu

Mihai Mafteianu — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:53:46 +0000

The above recommendation is not intended for all professions.

Clearly not being in the position to judge anyone I can tell you are not (yet) focusing. Going to university courses, being employed, attending social events (building business relationships, basically), working on important personal projects & other smaller ones is clearly a way to spread yourself across a lot of activities at once. Try only doing one of those (you get to choose which, obviously) and see how much time it takes until you want to diversify and look into other gigs.

By: andreisavu

andreisavu — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:12:13 +0000

… but this is also a bit dangerous. I believe the ability to focus is critical for success. Running multiple projects at the same time will kill your focus, this is what I have learned from personal experience. Currently I'm trying to work only on a single important project and in my spare time try small exploration projects, no more than one for small period of time.