buznutt

I stumbled on one of Kathy Sierra’s old blog posts titled "Your brain on multitasking". Worth a read, from one of the best blogs ever written, by one of the smartest people around.

My idea is related to this multitasking thing, but first check out the following, right above Sierra’s comment box on that page:

We LOVE to hear from you, and we think of this blog as a big dinner party. Y’all are our invited guests, but if you’re being rude and obnoxious we’ll let the bouncer toss you. So please, stick to debating and criticizing ideas rather than personal attacks. Also, if you don’t see your comment right away, it means we’ve turned on moderation to fight the evil spammers. It’ll show up soon.

Did you catch the conversational tone, the welcoming feeling, the idea that you’ve found a place where you can discuss ideas with others who will be civil? That’s the point.

That and her ideas. Which are about the concept of "context switching", known to most by that buzzword, "multitasking".

This word has been adopted by people who have no idea what it means. It describes an illusion created early in the computer age. Even early computers were fast enough to look like they could do several things at once.

Multitasking happens when a computer drops one thing, and then does another thing for a bit, and then quits that and goes on to a third thing, and so on. It looks good but it’s a charade. Like the movies, it’s a bunch of flickering snapshots.

So multitasking isn’t multitasking. It’s only fast switching, but it looks good. Mindless computers can do this because they’re mindless, but people can’t, because they have minds.

People are poor at this, but worse at following someone else’s switches. For people, it’s really only one thing at a time, or a total mess.

So -- with web sites too. A web site should do one thing, do it well, and give people a chance to slow down and focus. Focus is productive. Focus is valuable. Focus is relaxing. Focus is comfortable. Focus is good.

As Sierra says, focus is both a way to get more done and a way to reduce stress.

Your web site does well not so much by limiting the number of things it has but by being consistent. Slow people down and let them focus. Get them into that state of flow that creative people love. Show them the value of what you have.

You’ve seen lots of short articles on the web like "Five sure-fire ways to do X", and "The ten secrets of Y", and so on, lists of bullet points. You see them and move on. You don’t want that.

You want rich and deep and slow and comfortable. For your web site. For your business. For your relationships.

Tuning, simplifying, and enriching your message is good for you, but it’s also good for your visitors. Everyone has to switch context when coming to you. Once is unavoidable, but that should be it. Once people are at your site, be clear. Don’t confuse visitors with conflicting, jumbled messages. Stay simple. Stick with one context. Promote one message.

Do give value though. Enough to establish uniqueness. Become a destination. Create an atmosphere specific to you. Be welcoming. Create a community. Get everyone talking. Join in. Share. You’ll discover a lot, and you’ll connect. At the end, in the long run, you’ll reach your goal, by slowing down the switching. By removing the noise.

And you’ll have more fun. Everyone will.

Be anti-trendy. Be smart. Just say no to multitasking.

References:

Your brain on multitasking

Creating Passionate Users

Flow

Copyright © 2008 - 2011 by Dave Sailer

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