How the New York Times’s Top Tech Blogger Multitasks

“Bilton multitasked constantly and was involved in many kinds of conversations. He was, at any one point, tweeting on his own Twitter stream, tweeting on the Times’s liveblog, IMing with people as far away as San Francisco or as close as the desk behind him, and talking to other staffers. He was also simultaneously tracking Twitter, checking the blogosphere for competing tech blogs, and thinking about new blog posts to write. With these blogs, he wasn’t just posting text but actively using Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Excel, and a number of other programs to enhance the visual aspects of his blogging. Bilton joked about being ADD — but he was exactly the multitasking information seeker and user of social news that he had written about in his book.”

—Nikki Usher

Combitasking: When Multitasking Is Not Only Okay, but Necessary

“Linguist Naomi Baron made this point over lunch with Will—a lunch where he managed to take notes, eat his meal, and soak up the atmosphere at a fashionable Washington, D.C., restaurant, even as music was playing in the background. Baron used the analogy of a car. ‘We simultaneously look forward, check out the rearview and side mirrors, steer, operate the gas and brake, and glance at the speedometer, and yet don’t call this multitasking. We call it driving.’ Her distinction was between pursuing single and multiple goals.”

—David Shipley and Will Schwalbe, SEND: Why People Email So Badly and How to Do It Better