Multitasking is a lie!

One of my favourite Scrum value is Focus and in this day and age it's really hard to follow. It's so easy to jump from one half-done request to the next by following the latest notification, phone call, email or chat. No wonder why you don't have the time to plan ahead or take control of your own schedule.

Here's a process I try to enforce more and more: Whenever I'm in the middle of something and someone asks me to do something else, I just write it down in my notebook as a 'Todo' for later (even if the new task could be done rather quickly).

I'm not using online 'Todo apps' because it would require that I switch my screen from what I'm doing to another screen. I prefer switching my attention from screen to paper. This way my current task doesn't leave my screen while I'm writing down this new interrupting task.

In Kanban one popular saying is : "Stop Starting, Start Finishing".

By limiting the amount of work in progress, it keeps the amount of things competing for my attention to a minimum and I can focus on finishing stuff as fast as possible. Whenever you feel like you're not in control of your day, keep in mind that you're the one who allows that and you're the one that can take control back. The way to do it is rather simple just say: "No", "Not now" or even "I'll get to it as soon as I get some time", and just write it down.

It's crazy how sometime you might think that your options are so limited that you're only option is to multitask or jump on the next emergency.

Stop being the victim of interruptions and find your own way to Focus on your task at hand.

Bonus: If you're looking for a cool way to structure your todos in your notebook, take a look at the Bullet Journal