http://jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2008/07/pragmatic-manager-vol-5-4-posted.html Management, especially good management, is hard to do. This blog is for people who want to think about how they manage people, projects, and risk. Sat, 22 Nov 2008 02:28:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 http://jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2008/07/pragmatic-manager-vol-5-4-posted.html#comment-15312 Jim Ward Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:17:41 +0000 http://jrothman.com/blog/mpd/?p=8461#comment-15312 The biggest problem that I see on multi-project assignments is one that you don't mention. Your description focuses on one individual working independently, and this happens rarely if at all on projects. Usually, other members of a project team are assigned to multiple projects as well. Communication becomes difficult, teamwork and commitment are non-existent. Time is wasted waiting for input from a team member who is working on another project. This loss is far greater than that of context switching at the individual level, which does not minimize the very good points that you make about this incidious practice. The biggest problem that I see on multi-project assignments is one that you don’t mention. Your description focuses on one individual working independently, and this happens rarely if at all on projects. Usually, other members of a project team are assigned to multiple projects as well. Communication becomes difficult, teamwork and commitment are non-existent. Time is wasted waiting for input from a team member who is working on another project. This loss is far greater than that of context switching at the individual level, which does not minimize the very good points that you make about this incidious practice.

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