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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/4237
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In programming, it is well known that context-switching is a productivity killer. Developers arrange their workdays to minimize interruptions so they can focus on one task. Once "flow" is interrupted, it can take a significant amount of time to get back into it. One 5-minute interruption can blow an entire afternoon.

Human beings can't multitask. Study after study has shown that we make more mistakes and get less work done when we try. We may feel we are being productive, but we're not. Our brains just don't work that way, and no amount of Web-surfing will make you able to multitask more flexibly. It will just reduce your attention span.

So you can't literally work on multiple projects at once. But you _can_ still have multiple projects in progress at once, and make steady progress on all of them -- you just have to make sure the amount of work you can get done in each time slice is not overshadowed by the time it takes you to switch back into the context of the project.

If it takes you "a few hours" to get back into each project, in other words, obviously you are not well-served by switching every day. Try switching once a week instead.

Original score: 4