You probably recognize this: an experienced consultant working on five projects simultaneously. Monday with client A, Tuesday an urgent meeting for project B, Wednesday back to client A, with a few hours in between for projects C and D. On paper, the utilization seems perfect – all hours are scheduled, no one is sitting idle. Yet, deadlines keep running out, the consultant feels constantly stressed, and clients complain about delays. How is that possible?
The answer lies in something often overlooked in planning software: the hidden costs of multitasking. What looks like efficient staffing on your planning board turns out to be a silent productivity killer in practice. And that impact is greater than you think.
The real cost of switching between projects
Research on cognitive load shows that people lose an average of 20 to 40 percent productivity when switching between tasks. That sounds abstract, but let’s make it concrete. Every time an employee switches from one project to another, it takes time to get back into the swing of things. They have to recapture the context, remember where they left off, find the right documents, and gather their thoughts. This initial settling-in time averages 10 to 25 minutes per switch.
Just calculate it. A consultant who switches projects four times a day loses 40 to 100 minutes every day—that’s 10 to 20 percent of a workday wasted in “switching costs.” Over a week, that’s almost an entire workday. And that’s just the time cost. Besides lost time, you also see a decline in quality: work becomes more superficial, more errors creep in, and important details are overlooked.
The paradox is that it’s precisely your best people who suffer the most from this. Because they’re good, they’re deployed on multiple projects. But because of this fragmentation, they can’t achieve the depth their expertise actually allows.
What does this mean for your projects?
The consequences of multitasking manifest themselves at several levels. First, the lead time of projects increases. Consider two projects of 80 hours each. If you work on them back-to-back, you’ll be finished with both after four weeks. If you have the same person work on both in parallel, the switching costs will quickly make it take five to six weeks for both to be finished. Your first client will have to wait longer, and so will your second client.
In addition, there’s an increased coordination burden. Project managers must constantly track where their team members are, what the status is, and why things are taking longer than expected. These extra meetings and status updates, in turn, cost time—time that can’t be spent on actual work.
Clients feel like their projects aren’t a priority. And let’s be honest: if your consultant is working on five projects, yours is only one of them. That perception damages client relationships, even if the consultant is working incredibly hard.
The organizational impact
At the team level, you see other problems arise. Employees who constantly switch between projects experience more stress and a higher risk of burnout. The lack of focus and the feeling that you’re not making any real progress drains energy.
A culture also develops where everything feels urgent. If you’re working on five projects, there are always three deadlines looming. Prioritizing becomes nearly impossible because you have to keep track of all the boards you have. The result: a constant state of reactive work instead of proactive planning.
Finally, knowledge acquisition suffers. When you dedicate two days a week to a topic, you remain in the learning phase longer, making it harder to become a true expert. In-depth knowledge requires focus and consistency.
How many projects is realistic?
The question, of course, is: what’s realistic? The rule of thumb is: a maximum of two to three active projects per person, distinguishing between main projects and minor side projects. A main project takes up 60 to 80 percent of someone’s time and deserves their full attention. You can also have minor tasks—a review here, a consultation there—but these remain limited.
There are nuances, however. Project managers can often juggle more tasks than specialists, because their work is more coordinating and requires less deep work. A technical architect designing complex systems, on the other hand, needs longer periods of uninterrupted concentration.
The most important step is to make multitasking visible in your planning at all. Many organizations only see hours per project, but not how many different projects someone has. That switch count is at least as important as the number of hours.
Practical steps to reduce multitasking
How do you approach this? Start by gaining insight into the current situation. Count how many active projects each employee has. You’ll probably be shocked.
Next, you really need to prioritize projects. Not everything can be urgent. Make choices: which projects need to be finished now, and which can wait? Don’t be afraid to say no or extend deadlines.
Then, cluster work by person. Instead of having someone work on three projects every day, give them dedicated days or half days per project. Monday and Tuesday for project A, Wednesday and Thursday for project B. This blocking protects focus time and drastically reduces switching costs.
Communicate this to clients and stakeholders as well. Explain that their project will be finished faster if your consultant works on it two full days a week than if they work two hours a day, spread out over five days. Most clients will understand this.
The results: faster, better, quieter
Organizations that reduce multitasking see measurable results. Project lead times often decrease by 20 to 30 percent. Customer satisfaction increases because there’s more focus and speed in execution. Teams experience more peace and clarity, which leads to lower absenteeism and greater job satisfaction.
And financially? Fewer hours spent on context switching means you can complete the same projects with fewer hours. In other words: your profit margin per project increases.
The conclusion is clear: fewer balls in the air means more balls that actually land. It might feel counterintuitive to assign people to fewer projects simultaneously, but the numbers don’t lie. Focus trumps fragmentation. Always.
Want to know how much multitasking is happening in your organization? Take a critical look at your resource planning. Count the number of projects per person. And then be prepared to make choices.
