Cost to Switch

One of the tricky things to manage while being involved in different projects and activity modes every week is the cost of context-switching between them.

If you are a part of two projects that have different problem domains but share the same tech tools, the cost to switch between them is 1: you stay within the same tech context but move into a different problem.

However, if these projects also have different tech involved, the cost to switch doubles: you have to recall what's going on within the problem domain and also get the different tech knowledge brought up your operating memory. Even if you have used all the tools for years, the switch is never free.

Beyond these two, there are other dimensions to consider when evaluating the cost of switching:

1. The depth of focus the particular project requires (however, the cost to switch between deep and shallow work is much lower than deep to deep and shallow to shallow);
2. The time since you last touched a particular tech or problem domain;
3. Subjective preferences (something you have to do vs. something you like to do);
4. etc.

Some practical tips I employ to manage the switching:

1. Consolidate tools - while I love trying new approaches, frameworks, and tools, I stick to a few that I know well in the practical work.
2. Alternate deep and shallow work - I'm writing this post between the time blocks dedicated to working on code.
3. Rotate projects - instead of taking long bouts of only doing one thing for a week or more, I "touch" everything I consider in progress at least once a week. If I can't make time for it, it's moved into the "on hold" bucket.
4. Avoid multitasking - when I speak of switching between projects, it involves a full disconnect from one thing and a full focus on another. Do different things sequentially, not in parallel.¹

It's something to budget: there's some fixed amount of the switch capacity available to you each week, so spend it wisely.

1. While multitasking gives an impression of staying in two contexts at a time, you end being not focused on either. ↩