The ten seconds you used to wait
Nov 6
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Three windows are open on your laptop. You paste your meeting notes into the AI and ask for a client update. While the dots blink for ten seconds, you click over to the team chat. Two new messages wait there, one of them a question about the budget. You start typing an answer. Then the draft is ready. You click back, read the first line and can't remember what you asked for.
The analytics company ActivTrak wanted to know how a working day changes once a company starts using AI. They followed 10,584 people in 376 companies for half a year before and half a year after. They measured what people did on screen instead of asking them.
Email went up by 104 percent and chat by 145 percent. Focused work went down by 23 minutes a day. ActivTrak sells tracking software. The data shows what changed but not why. I'd put a good share of those minutes in the seconds while the tool is still writing.
Email went up by 104 percent and chat by 145 percent. Focused work went down by 23 minutes a day. ActivTrak sells tracking software. The data shows what changed but not why. I'd put a good share of those minutes in the seconds while the tool is still writing.
Corty does one thing at a time
I call the thinking part of the brain Corty. She plans, decides and keeps track of what you are working on right now. But she can only hold one thing at a time.
I call the thinking part of the brain Corty. She plans, decides and keeps track of what you are working on right now. But she can only hold one thing at a time.
When you click over to the chat, Corty has to let go of the client update. Then she has to think about the budget question, who asked it and what you already know. When you click back, she has to remember the client update all over again. Part of her is still thinking about the budget. That is why you have to read the first line twice.
One switch costs very little. The problem is how many there are. An AI tool hands you many short waits an hour that each look like free time. So Corty starts over again and again all day without anyone seeing it. By the afternoon she jumps all by herself. You read the same paragraph three times. Corty is ready to leave the building.
Your message lands in someone else's wait
Now look at your team. Everyone on it has the same short waits. And what do we reach for in those seconds? The chat, mostly. The 145 percent has to come from somewhere. Each message you send lands in a colleague's waiting seconds and pulls her away from what she was doing.
Now look at your team. Everyone on it has the same short waits. And what do we reach for in those seconds? The chat, mostly. The 145 percent has to come from somewhere. Each message you send lands in a colleague's waiting seconds and pulls her away from what she was doing.
I often ask leaders why they open the chat while the tool works. The answer is nearly always the same. I need to stay on top of things. It sounds responsible. But when everyone checks the chat in every wait, everyone also interrupts each other. Nobody gets to finish a thought before the next question arrives.
In my book I mention that full concentration can take ten to twenty minutes to return. A team that switches in every wait never gets there. The work still gets done, but with a Corty who is never quite all there.
First, watch what your hand does
Start by noticing. The next time you hand the AI a task, watch what your hand does during the wait. Count how many times in one morning it reaches for the chat or the inbox. Most leaders I work with are surprised by the number.
Start by noticing. The next time you hand the AI a task, watch what your hand does during the wait. Count how many times in one morning it reaches for the chat or the inbox. Most leaders I work with are surprised by the number.
Then give the short waits a job that keeps Corty on the same task. Before you read the draft, write one line about what a good answer must contain. Then you read the draft with a question in mind instead of starting from nothing.
When the tool needs a minute or more, leave the screen. There is a part of the brain that daydreams. I usually call him Dreamy. He only gets his turn when nothing else is asking for your attention. Look out of the window and let your thoughts drift. That is often when the idea you were missing turns up.
The tools will get faster. Soon the wait will be a second or two. I'm not sure that helps, because the habit of filling every gap will still be there. The question is who gets those seconds. Your own work, someone else's question, or Dreamy?
The tools will get faster. Soon the wait will be a second or two. I'm not sure that helps, because the habit of filling every gap will still be there. The question is who gets those seconds. Your own work, someone else's question, or Dreamy?
/ Maria