How’d you like to get an extra 40 percent of productive time at work and maybe even save lives?

Don’t multitask.

Despite claims that texting during meetings or operating a tablet and smartphone simultaneously is working smart, science says otherwise:

• One research study found that switching repeatedly between tasks causes brief ‘mental blocks” while the brain recalibrates itself for the new activity. The cumulative effect of switching consumes up to 40 percent of someone’s productive time.

• Some other studies claim multitasking can actually cost 15 IQ points and even shrinks your brain.

In project management (or any office environment), multitasking causes poor focus, sloppy planning and implementation, or emails with typos. It can put a career or a project off the rails…but in other circumstances, it can kill.

Multitasking behind the wheel – known as distracted driving – claims more than 3,000 lives a year and causes hundreds of thousands of injuries.

So as summer comes to an end and school begins, make sure all the drivers in your family monotask on the road; no eating, drinking, texting, phone calls, putting on makeup or even changing clothes while driving.

Don’t roll the dice just to save a few seconds or minutes. You might just save an eternity that way.

Happy summer. Your project is about to get disrupted.

Summer brings vacations, kids free from school, office summer hours, and weddings.  It disrupts the flow of business (up to 20 percent decrease in productivity and a 13 percent increase in project turnaround times).  Global projects are particularly vulnerable to The Summer Syndrome, since many workers abroad often vacation at the same time, in August.

In the U.S. not everyone will vacation at the same time…but that’s a mixed blessing. A string of vacations taken throughout summertime creates a ripple effect as the project progresses. Decision makers, team members, vendors, consultants, shippers, payment processors – every function and business segment is affected.

That’s a compelling argument for the Project Success Method’s duration based project planning.  Our seven-step duration estimating process helps team members devise real-world timeframes (in which people go on vacations, for instance), while our add-in for Microsoft Project give managers more control of the schedule.

Of course project managers must still monitor for schedule slippage to prevent the Summer Syndrome.  However, the right tools and realistic scheduling can help make projects and teams have it “made in the shade” clear through to project completion.