CEO's Blog

Multitasking in Silicon Valley

Multitasking is every day life here in the Valley–and so many other places in this day and age:  Running a computer camp company, dropping the kids off at pre-school, getting to the grocery store, commuting to work, interruptions on the cell phone…they all add up.  How do I manage it all?  Well, here’s what I did yesterday.

I promised my wife I’d be home by 5:15.  “I promise.”  I normally rush to get home to get the wrestling going in the living room with the boys–to give my wife a break.

Well, yesterday, I received a phone call at 5 PM while I was getting ready to head out of the office.  It was an important call, so I had to take it.  I was heading out the door, on my cell phone, and I began my commute home.  A few people honked at me for being on my cell phone.  I ignored them and kept talking.  The person on the other end of the phone was having trouble hearing me too because I was going so fast!

25 minutes later I arrived home safely, still on my cell phone.  My wife was waiting at the front door (not too happy).  But, she wasn’t happy because I was late.  She was upset because I was talking on my phone and riding my bicycle home from work at the same time.

I don’t recommend multitasking in this way!  This is the culture in the Valley–every second counts.  Trying to “gain time” is a challenge that I know a lot of us face.  But sometimes we can take multitasking too far.  I promised I wouldn’t do it again.  I know they are enacting laws about hands-free cell phone use in motor vehicles here in California, but I know of nothing that says you can’t ride your bike and talk on your cell phone.  My wife sees it differently.

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 21st, 2007 at 10:03 am and is filed under CEO's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.