You probably wouldn’t drive across town for one errand, return home, then make the same trip again for the next. Apply that same idea to work: group similar recurring tasks into a planned block, rather than repeatedly switching between unrelated ones. Start by scanning the next three days of your calendar and looking for work you can handle together.
What work batching means
Work batching is a way to organize recurring tasks: instead of handling each one as it appears, you collect similar tasks and do them together. For example, you might answer routine messages in a scheduled window, review several documents in one sitting, or prepare a set of reports consecutively.
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The point is not to eliminate every interruption or turn the whole day into rigid blocks. It is to notice where you are repeatedly restarting similar work and try a more grouped arrangement. The approach is described in Thanh Pham’s article on batching work like errands.
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Why switching tasks can take time
In four controlled experiments, researchers Joshua S. Rubinstein, David E. Meyer, and Jeffrey E. Evans found that alternating between tasks carried switching-time costs. The reported costs increased with rule complexity and decreased when participants received cues about which task to perform. Their experiments used structured cognitive tasks, including arithmetic and classifying geometric objects—not ordinary calendar schedules or a test of work batching. Read the 2001 paper, “Executive Control of Cognitive Processes in Task Switching”.
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This offers a plausible reason to reduce unnecessary switching, not proof that every batching schedule will make a person faster, more accurate, or less tired. Task-switching costs vary with task properties; the American Psychological Association’s overview of switching costs also discusses factors such as complexity and familiarity. Treat improvements in your own output or energy as something to observe, not a guaranteed result.
How to try batching over the next three days
- Scan your calendar. Look across the next three days for recurring work: messages, document reviews, routine admin, planning, or similar tasks.
- Group work that is genuinely alike. Put together tasks that use similar tools, information, or attention. A batch should reduce context changes, not just collect unrelated obligations in one block.
- Order related tasks sensibly. If one task produces information needed by another, do the prerequisite first. For errands, that might mean grouping stops by location; for work, it could mean gathering inputs before drafting or reviewing.
- Match demanding work to your energy where possible. If you know when you tend to have more focus, consider scheduling work that needs sustained thought then, and placing routine tasks elsewhere. This is a planning hypothesis to test against your own experience, not a universal rule about energy.
- Put the block on the calendar and review what happened. After trying it, note whether the grouped work fit, what interrupted it, and whether the arrangement helped. Adjust the next block rather than assuming the first schedule is ideal.
There is no established ideal duration in the cited material. Choose a block that fits the work and your obligations; revise it if it is too long, too short, or regularly disrupted.
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Choose the approach that fits the work
Batching is most useful as a flexible choice. Before scheduling, consider how similar the tasks are, how urgent interruptions can be, how much sustained thought the work requires, and when you are usually best placed to do it.
- Similar, predictable tasks: Try grouping them in one planned window.
- Work that depends on earlier results: Put related tasks in sequence so the next step has what it needs.
- Deep, demanding work: Consider reserving a period when you can give it attention, if your role allows it.
- Interrupt-driven work: Use smaller or more frequent processing windows, or leave urgent channels open while grouping only the work that can wait.
Keep a response path for urgent work
Batching messages does not mean ignoring genuine emergencies. If your role requires rapid replies, one adaptation is to allow notifications from a few critical contacts while checking other messages at scheduled times. Decide what counts as urgent with the people who depend on your response, then test whether the arrangement meets those responsibilities. It is one possible setup, not a communications policy that fits every team.
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What one personal timing example can—and can’t—show
Pham’s article reports that the author’s document-scanning process took 17 minutes when batched, compared with 19 minutes 35 seconds when done sequentially; after adding Hazel automation, the author reports 12 minutes. These are timings from the author’s example, not results from an independent study or a population estimate. The article does not report repeated trials or independent replication, so the figures illustrate one experience rather than predict what batching will save for other people.
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