Digital teams are made up of individuals who structure their work days efficiently in ways that lead to productivity and output.
Or, at least they think they do.
But as a member of a digital workplace, when was the last time you sat down and really thought about how you’re working?
- What apps do you use throughout your work day?
- How long do you spend in each app?
- And how often do you toggle back and forth (...and back and forth) between them?
According to Gloria Mark , a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, who studies digital distraction, most of us are actually monochronics. That means we prefer to start a single task and work on it to completion before starting on the next task.
The problem is, we live in a polychronic world.
Digital distractions in the digital workplace
What is a digital workplace, anyways?
A digital or virtual workplace connects teams with technology as opposed to a physical, geographic location. And the individuals on such a team can work, interact and collaborate regardless of where they're situated.
As a relatively new way of working on a team though, many of us are still kind of 'winging it' as we make our ways through each digital workday. We’re continually switching our attention between devices, apps, tasks and contexts. Co-workers are messaging us, we’re jumping in and out of meetings and we’re searching through apps to find the information we need to complete our work for the day.
We’re always multi-tasking, which, according to Mark, goes against our human nature. And in fact, humans aren’t truly even capable of doing more than one thing at a time. Instead, we switch rapidly between tasks and contexts.
The average digital-first worker is interrupted—or self-interrupts—about every three minutes . And once interrupted, it can take around 23 minutes for them to return to their original task, she said. This research is about a decade old, though.
More recent findings from a 2021 Qatalog study in collaboration with Cornell University’s Ellis Idea Lab found:
- people reported spending an average of 36 minutes every day switching back and forth between applications; and
- it takes them 9.5 minutes to get back into a good workflow once they’ve switched.
Additionally, according to recent research by project management platform Asana, knowledge workers spend 60% of their time on coordination tasks, such as answering emails, scheduling meetings and coordinating projects.
The result?
As digital-first workers, we waste a tremendous amount of time in between work and simply trying to refocus ourselves from all the interruptions and digital distractions.
Get more intentional with the digital workday
The ability to identify where and when we’re over-multitasking and overly distracted can create all kinds of opportunities for personal pattern changes as well as adjustments at the team and even organizational level.
Changes like:
- fewer projects at once;
- less internal email;
- more strategic messaging and meetings;
- better-aligned app usage among team members; and
- more automated and comprehensive single sources of data can all support more time for deep work.
The problem with getting started is we need a baseline measurement. How can we go about answering those questions we asked at the onset about how we’re working each day so we can understand where problem areas may lie?
The traditional method for gathering this information would be to ask people about their behavior. But the problem with that method is, “people are notoriously bad at estimating time,” said Mark.
In fact, people tend to be off by as much as 30% when it comes to self estimation.
So how can we accurately establish that baseline measurement, begin identifying problem areas and start making shifts toward a more effective digital workplace?
How to start auditing your day in a digital workplace
The first step is to have an openness to learn more about your own digital work patterns and habits. And then, of course, a willingness to try things differently. If you’ve read this far, you can probably check those off the list.
Next, you’ll need an entire team of researchers to start collecting and analyzing data on your daily workflow. JOKING, of course. We’ve got you covered on that front.
We created Produce8 to make it easy for workers, their teams and their organizations to derive deep insights on the average digital workday. But at the same time, we knew the process had to be collective and it had to feel unobtrusive.
Once set up, the app sits in the background quietly gathering and sharing data about your workday from the apps where you do work and with the people you choose to share it with—maybe even just yourself.
Produce8 can accurately show you exactly what your digital work patterns and habits look like in real-time and over time, including when and how you’re task- and context-switching and how often you’re being distracted by things like email, Slack and meetings.
The app will even show those shining examples of when you’re accomplishing extended deep work and what that looks like for you.
“Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits,” said author James Clear in his New York Times bestseller, 'Atomic Habits'.
So what happens next with your workday is entirely up to you.
Once you have the data to examine your habits, you also have the opportunity to change them and to impact your outcomes for the future.
The future of the digital workplace starts with data
Having accurate, actionable workplace analytics offers the real advantage of being able to customize your processes and daily flows for better productivity and efficiency.
Multiply this by every person on your digital-first team—or even your organization for that matter—and you’re well on your way to building a better future of work, not only in terms of business effectiveness and success, but also individual satisfaction and fulfilment.
And with a better digital teamwork process in place, the opportunities for hybrid and remote work flexibility become boundless.
The future of work will be about doing digital better.
