10am and on. Short intervals, different people, random issues. Phone ringing, interrupting already fragile processes of thought. That mode again: Communicate, collect, write down, forget at least for now. There will be a time to wrap it all up. Later. Maybe.
#outerworld #office_hours #concrete_city #multitasking_matters
#office hours #concrete city #multitasking matters
9am and on. Plan for long, cut things short, and try to figure out what to spend time gained in between. Never running short of tasks to fill these kinds of voids but always overestimating ones on cognitive abilities while dancing in between these. Stories of fog and noise, not always pleasant.
#outerworld #concrete_city #office_hours #multitasking_matters
#concrete city #office hours #multitasking matters
Heading for 9am. Day's filling up quickly, first calls, first head-scratching moments, first counting of breath to slow down a bit. (Wrestling, again, that unsettling feeling of handling too many fragments to really solve the puzzle, or any puzzle at all.)
#outerworld #home_office_hours #multitasking_matters
#home office hours #multitasking matters
Been in my playlist this morning, and, though obvious in some ways, still added some points and leaves me pondering that particular issue more than usual:
At the outset, including for the IBM System three sixty, the computer with a single CPU was not actually multitasking. It was doing the same thing that our brains do. It was jumping back and forth between tasks really fast to make sure it was doing them both adequately. So when we kind of figured out that there was a problem with processing, that there were limits to it. We established very quickly something called a processing bottleneck. That, yeah, there is. It's documented humans do not multitask to begin with, and when we try to multitask, the results are terrible.
via SYSK: Multitasking: Working slower with worse results
#podcast #multitasking_matters
#multitasking matters
Circling 9am. Throwing out messages one day, harvesting responses the other. Sometimes it's a few, sometimes it's a load, and sometimes it adds to the multitasking already at hand. Everything else is caffeine and tension.
#outerworld #office_hours #multitasking_matters
#office hours #multitasking matters
3pm and on. Moving in test cycles, head spinning. Waiting for long-running jobs is a good way to disappear in multitasking once more. But some things just take the time they need. And at some point one's running out of ephemeral tasks that don't need much attention or dedication. (Rewinding. Taking notes. Forgetting again. And still, outcomes are pending.)
#outerworld #home_office_hours #where_we_do_what_we_do #multitasking_matters
#home office hours #where we do what we do #multitasking matters
10am and on. Monday constantly playing with different shapes. Across the street, seems people more than usual resorted to working from home today. Still no clouds in a soft blue sky, some sun trying to push light into the narrow streets. (Also, jumping from call to call, hanging up just to hear the sound of a virtual bell ringing again. Considering yet another coffee even though this late morning should have better plans.)
#outerworld #home_office_hours #concrete_city #multitasking_matters
#home office hours #concrete city #multitasking matters
11am and on. Context switching to a point where project silhouettes fade and boundaries dissolve. Copying code, breaking test, scratching beard, wondering. More coffee to the rescue, and a short meditation in the emptiness between seconds to refocus.
#outerworld #multitasking_matters #where_we_do_what_we_do #home_office_hours
#multitasking matters #where we do what we do #home office hours
10am and on. Each piece of software reaches the point to weed out many minor issues from a vast load of unspecified inconsistent behaviour in upstream systems. That's where things get funny, that's where time is lost by days not hours. (Also: That feeling of relief seeing a meeting that didn't really suit the daily schedule well anymore postponed by someone else. Filling the sudden temporary void with coffee and euphoria to focus on other pressing things.)
#outerworld #where_we_do_what_we_do #office_hours #multitasking_matters
#where we do what we do #office hours #multitasking matters
Der Tag ist wild, der Mittag ist Sturm. Schwerelose Lindenblätter werden fortgerissen in staubgraue Himmel, auf dem Fußweg zerren die Böen an Werbeflyern der Supermärkte, falten alte Zeitungen um Laternenmasten und treiben kräuseliges Schaudern über die Häute letzter Pfützen. Im Radio hinter der Wand diskutieren aufgebrachte Menschen miteinander in jenem Ton, den man mittlerweile schon als normal einordnet; gegenüber wird neben dem Computer gegessen in trüber Dauerdämmerung. Posteingänge füllen sich schneller, als der Kopf die Themen sortieren kann, mitunter klingeln eigene Telefone, und die Unruhe im herbstlichen Draußen färbt ab, dringt vor und ein, verankert sich tief auch im Drinnen. Heute gibt es nicht zu viel Kaffee.
#outerworld #home_office_hours #multitasking_matters #concrete_city
#home office hours #multitasking matters #concrete city
11am and on. Mondays are for meetings, messing with meeting minutes and the momentum of modified code sequences coming into effect. All at the same time. (Multitasking gets stuck the very moment any checkpoint along the way needs manual interactions. And thinking about that. Sneaking ones way through the roadblocks of the day, a long line of tiny steps.)
#outerworld #home_office_hours #multitasking_matters #where_we_do_what_we_do
#home office hours #multitasking matters #where we do what we do
11am. Stop-and-go. Having hot coffee is difficult in fast task switching mode. Always being just one interrupt away from actually gaining insights. Writing dozens of different stories the same time (and eventually getting entangled in weird relationships between actors from generally unrelated timelines). Also, everything is kind of slow today, including the responses of the model. Maybe conversation topics are too heavy for a sunny late Tuesday morning.
#outerworld #office_hours #always_in_between #multitasking_matters #where_we_do_what_we_do
#office hours #always in between #multitasking matters #where we do what we do
4pm, slowing down. Watching clouds wrestle what's left of the daylight. Reordering the pile of tasks, leaving check marks on some smaller items, feeling like having achieved much more by the act of marking these things done than by actually resolving them. Still, getting ahead one step at a time, with steps being randomly small. But at least seems the direction's not all wrong.
#outerworld #early_office_hours #multitasking_matters #where_we_are_we_are #the_city_and_me
#early office hours #multitasking matters #where we are we are #the city and me
Close to 11am again. And the interesting sensation of how daily task lists looks like, after having gone through the first calls. Moving on fast, leaving behind a trail of poorly scribbled notes, odd grammar and write-only references that become impossible to decypher almost immediately. (Too many tabs open. Both literally and metaphorically. At least, more coffee is still an option today to stay within some usable comfort zone. Letting some autumn wave through the home office, to reconnect with things a bit again. More clouds than sun, by now.)
#outerworld #home_office_hours #multitasking_matters #where_we_do_what_we_do
#home office hours #multitasking matters #where we do what we do
Wieder etwas weiter, immer noch etwas Sonne: Stunden im Sprint. Alles schnell und nebenläufig, selbst die Pausen. Aus losen Enden von gestern werden lose Enden von morgen. Irgendwo klingen Signaltöne, die Suche in Bildschirmen und viel zu vielen Kanälen bleibt erfolglos. Unten ringen Paketboten um die besten Stellplätze in der zweiten Reihe, auf dem Fußweg geraten sich zornige Radfahrer und zornige Fußgänger in die Quere, wie üblich werden die Worte kurz rauher. Ein aufgeregter Mops rennt zwischen Autos und Mülltonnen umher und ignoriert den Rest der Welt, so gut es ihm wohl gelingt. Keine ganz dumme Strategie in solchen Momenten.
#outerworld #multitasking #home_office_hours #watching_the_day_pass
10am and on. Current mode and mood: Unreliable multi-tasking. Too many open windows, too many of them emitting sounds. Getting back to polishing code in between, always reminded how long it takes to get back to it, once interrupted. Messages lost in transmission, meaning lost in inconsistent wording. There are many ways of misunderstanding and technology seems to have a tendency to make it even worse.
#outerworld #office_hours #multitasking_matters #the_pitfalls_of_communication
#office hours #multitasking matters #the pitfalls of communication
10am and on: The dizziness of fast task switching. Getting a load of small issues resolved. A dozen a time. Caffeine boost, window blinds down. Odd kind of focus mode.
