<p>Published on <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/stop-spinning-plates-tips-for-dealing-with-context-switching-when-working-on-multiple-teams-59a35f993459?source=rss----eb297ea1161a---4">| Prototyping: From UX to Front End &mdash; Medium</a> Emma Meehan </p>
<p>Many of us work as individual contributors whereby we work horizontally across many teams. When in a role like this, whether thats as a Product Researcher, Analyst or Content Strategist, it can be pretty overwhelming trying to keep up with all the context switching that you need to do. I’ve learned that you need to utilise your time as much as possible. Because you are only one person. A finite resource.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*ucQG1h1Uq4i5SCeXqmhLvg.png"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/infomatique/7958741038">Credit: William Murphy</a></p>
<p>I already know what you’re thinking; “<em>Seriously Emma? A post on context switching and time management? How boring</em>!”. But stay with me. This is an important topic if you want to keep your <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_load">cognitive load</a> to a minimum during your work week.</p>
<p>When I was new to the startup world, it was pretty challenging becoming accustomed to working with so many different teams at once. Especially when these teams were all working on different areas of the product and were focused on different goals. To be totally honest, there were some days when I felt like I was spinning plates with all the context switching I had to do.</p>
<p>Luckily this feeling didn’t last too long and I’d like to think of the way I work with multiple teams now as a well oiled machine (<em>for the most part</em> 😅). As I sit here thankful that my week is meticulously planned out for the coming week, I wanted to reflect on the ways in which I proactively work towards reducing the amount of context switching and cognitive load I have.</p>
<p>What I’ve found through trial (and a lot of error) is that by protecting your time and reducing your cognitive load, you’re essentially protecting yourself from burnout. <a href="https://blog.intercom.com/boulders-pebbles-can-stop-burnout/?utm_content=buffer73d22&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer">I’ve recently written about avoiding burnout by communicating your process using the “boulders and pebbles” metaphor</a>, but in this post, I wanted to focus on some tips and tricks on how to be smart with the time (and brain capacity!) you have.</p>
<h4>Tip 1: Use a pomodoro app</h4>
<p>Context switching can be pretty draining but there are ways you can adjust to it. Using a pomodoro app can help you compartmentalise what you’re working on. Never heard of the pomodoro app? It’s a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique">proven time management technique</a> that helps to cut your projects and tasks into 25 minute chunks. The technique is super straightforward and is as follows:</p>
<ol>
<li>Decide on the task to be done.</li>
<li>Set the pomodoro timer (traditionally to 25 minutes).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique#cite_note-Cirillo-1">[1]</a></li>
<li>Work on the task until the timer rings.</li>
<li>After the timer rings put a checkmark on a piece of paper.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique#cite_note-CirilloHow-5">[5]</a></li>
<li>If you have fewer than four checkmarks, take a short break (3–5 minutes), then go to step 2.</li>
<li>After four pomodoros, take a longer break (15–30 minutes), reset your checkmark count to zero, then go to step 1. (<em>Credit: Wikipedia</em>)</li>
</ol>
<p>I use the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/be-focused-focus-timer-goal-tracker-for-work/id973134470?mt=12">Mac App “Be Focused”</a> which is great. Being competitive by nature, I like to see how much I can get done in a specific time chunk. Especially if it involves those “work work” admin tasks that no one is ever excited about doing.</p>
<h4>Tip 2: Mentally prepare yourself for the next week</h4>
<p>Ever had that sinking feeling on a Sunday night, thinking about all the things you need to get done the following week? Yeah, me too. Don’t leave it until Monday to to try and figure out all the tasks you need to do for the different teams you’re working on.</p>
<p>When working from a roadmap, it’s can be fairly straightforward to plan out your next week on the previous Friday so that you’re context switching is kept to a minimum. I usually set time aside to do this on a Friday afternoon, as I’m winding down for the week.</p>
<h4>Tip 3: Organise your calendar as much as you can</h4>
<p>I know this sounds boring but I can’t stress enough how sometimes you have to put a little bit of work in to save yourself in the long run. Of course you’ll always want to keep on top of all your team’s tasks and one of the best ways to do this is to keep your calendar in the best shape possible.</p>
<p>Start by naming your calendar items by team, and set each team item to have its own colour (for example, “<em>Team X: Research planning</em>”). This way, you can zoom out and see what teams and tasks are taking up your week. So if you are on 3 teams; Team X (<em>Blue</em>), Team Y (<em>Pink</em>) and Team Z (<em>Yellow</em>) and your calendar for the next week is filled with all yellow items, then you can mentally prepare yourself for working predominantly on those projects. It’s also a great way of figuring out if one team is taking up the majority of your resources. If this is always the case, have a chat with the team owner to see <em>why</em> this is happening.</p>
<p>Now if you do this and your calendar ends up looking like a rainbow, take 15 minutes to rearrange your time-blocks in a way that you can reduce context switching. Think of it like a game of “Tetris” and try and stick as many similar colours together. This way, you’re limiting the amount of cognitive load you’ll have thinking about what’s coming next week.</p>
<h4>Tip 4: Block out time for “deep thinking” for each of your teams (when possible!)</h4>
<p>There are some weeks where you will plan for 6 meetings but end up having 16. This is inevitable in any workplace as ad-hoc chats pop-up, certain product decisions need to be made last-minute or a chance for collaboration arises. This should be embraced, but sometimes you need to set aside time for uninterrupted thinking.</p>
<p>When working on a big project that’s going to take 2 weeks, plan for this accordingly and protect your time from any unnecessary ad-hoc meetings. By setting aside “deep thinking” time, you’re letting your colleagues know that you have a priority project that needs to be worked on and perhaps that 10 minute chat could be had via email instead.</p>
<h4>Tip 5: Communicate that you take your time seriously</h4>
<p>It’s so important in any job that your time is taken seriously. Believe me, if folks see a free space in your calendar, they WILL stick a meeting in there. Communicate to your team early on that if you have a time block with “DNS (Do not schedule)” in it, then this isn’t a great time to pop a meeting into your calendar.</p>
<p><em>Caveat</em>: This isn’t an excuse to go and block off every single day for “deep thinking” as people will think they can’t collaborate with you. And it’s also totally unrealistic. I’ve found by detailing what I’m working on (for example: “DNS: User Study Analysis or “DNS: Report writing”) people will at least have some context on what you’re working on and why you’re unavailable.</p>
<h4>Tip 6: Group your meetings (as much as you can)</h4>
<p>Try and allocate specific days/time for meeting with various teams if your role is one that’s meetings-heavy. Now this can be a logistical nightmare when there’s more than 3 people in the meeting but for anything that is reoccurring (1:1’s, check-in’s, planning meetings) this is totally do-able. That way, you’re able to focus your energy on specific teams or projects on certain days so that your brain is not totally frazzled by Wednesday.</p>
<h4>Tip 7: Learn from your previous months calendar</h4>
<p>In the same way that I cringe looking at old reports I’ve written (don’t we all?), I also cringe at some of my calendar week’s from the last few years. Now I track everything I do in my calendar and every couple of months, I go back and see what I need to improve on. Whether that’s pinpointing why I had to stay late on a week where I was working on concept study or why there was a week where I had so many meetings that none of my actual goals were done. Trying to understand why you had a bad week can help you have plenty more good ones.</p>
<p>From doing this in my own role as a Product Researcher, I learned that for remote research studies, I wasn’t allocating enough time for debriefing after each study. I would always feel drained at the end of the day as I would be rushing after each session trying to get some high level insights from the team before the next session would start. The difference I’ve felt from adding an extra 10 minutes onto my debriefs has worked wonders!</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>These tips are just some of the ways that ultimately help you reduce cognitive load and help you deal with the continuous context switching that comes with working in a fast-paced environment. Nobody wants to spend their days feeling overwhelmed and dreading what they have do next week. Be proactive and protect your time (and your brain!).</p>
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<p><a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/stop-spinning-plates-tips-for-dealing-with-context-switching-when-working-on-multiple-teams-59a35f993459">Stop Spinning Plates: Tips for dealing with context switching when working on multiple teams</a> was originally published in <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io">prototypr</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>


Stop Spinning Plates: Tips for dealing with context switching when working on multiple teams

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