Hey!

Chris here. Welcome to Blueprint—the newsletter to help you build a winning engineering team.

I hope you didn't do this, but you probably opened this email while checking Slack, monitoring GitHub, and jumping between browser tabs. 

I know because I used to be that person—the one who thought they could multitask.

But as someone who's spent their career understanding how computers and code work, I can tell you with absolute certainty: No, you can't. No one can. Especially not your teams.

Today I'm going to show you why—and more importantly, what to do about it.

📒 DEEP DIVE

The Cost of Context Switching

Constant task-switching is the biggest productivity killer in engineering teams. Here's how to fix it.

When I tell people they can't multitask, they usually argue with me: "But Chris, I've been doing it for years!" 

No, you haven't—you've just been rapidly switching between tasks, likely at the cost of quality. As someone who's spent their career understanding how machines process information, I can tell you exactly why.

Think about your laptop. When you've got 15 tabs open, Slack running, and Spotify playing, it feels like it's doing everything at once, right? 

But peek under the hood, and you'll see what's really happening: your CPU is rapidly switching between tasks, dumping and loading information thousands of times per second.

Even the most powerful computers in the world can't truly multitask—they just context switch so fast you can't tell the difference.

Your brain, though, is terrible at context-switching.

The 25-Minute Focus Tax

Let me describe a scenario I see every week: An engineer finally gets their dev environment set up. They're digging into a complex bug, loading all that context into their brain. They're just about to crack it when:

→ Slack notification: "Hey, quick question..." 

→ Email alert: "Meeting request, one hour." 

→ Drive-by: "Do you have a minute?"

Each time this happens, their brain has to shift gears completely. All that context about the bug they were solving? Gone. 

And getting back to that same level of focus isn't quick—I've found it takes about 25 minutes to fully reload that mental state (ironically, the length of a Pomodoro). 

That's why constant interruptions are killing your team's productivity.

Building a Single-Task Environment

So how do we fix this? Here's my battle-tested approach:

1) Deep Focus Blocks

I set aside 2-3 hours 2X a day when I'm completely unreachable except for real emergencies:

→ Morning blocks are for the hardest problems (my mind is freshest)

→ Afternoon blocks are for lighter work

During these times, my phone goes on DND, Slack gets closed (not just muted), and all notifications are off. You can't context switch if there's nothing to switch to. I treat these blocks like they're sacred—because they are.

2) Batch Processing

When I'm with clients, I completely ignore Slack. I let messages pile up all day long, and people think I'm crazy for doing this. 

"But what about emergencies? What if you miss something important?" If something's actually on fire, I tell my team to call me. Otherwise, it can wait.

The funny thing is, those "emergencies" that supposedly needed immediate attention? When people can't reach you on Slack, they usually figure it out themselves. And anything that really matters will still be important when you check messages later.

At the end of each day, I spend about 30 minutes going through all those messages I missed. Handling all your communications in one focused burst > constantly starting and stopping other work.

Same goes with email. Instead of checking it 50 times a day, I process everything in 2 focused sessions. It's amazing how quickly you can get through a hundred emails when you're not trying to do 5 other things.

3) Communication Architecture

One of the best things I've done for my engineering teams is give them complete cover to focus. Here's how it works at my company:

• The engineers turn everything off and focus entirely on their task. 

• I monitor Slack, email, and general communications.

• If something's truly urgent (not "the client wants an update"), I'll call them.

That's it. You have no idea how much they actually get done when we put this in place.

4) Create Focus-Friendly Spaces 

I've learned that your physical and digital environment matters just as much as your time management. In my office, I have a simple signal: headphones on means I'm in focus mode. No interruptions unless the building's on fire.

I apply the same principle to my digital workspace. When I'm coding, I close everything except my IDE and necessary documentation. No extra browser tabs, email client running in the background, or Slack window tempting me with notifications.

Environmental control makes a huge difference. Your brain can't get distracted by notifications it never sees.

The Self-Awareness We Need to Have About Focus

Look, I'll be the first to admit it: I'm terrible at context-switching. Worse than most people, actually.

But that's exactly why I had to build these systems—because I know exactly how much mental energy I waste every time I switch tasks.

Your job isn't to become amazing at juggling everything at once. It's to protect your mental RAM and stay focused on one thing at a time.

🎙 EPISODE OF THE WEEK

This week Matt and I dive into a topic every entrepreneur needs to hear: how to make work feel like play.

We dive into the role of obsession in business success, exploring how many successful entrepreneurs channel addictive personalities into building companies.

But don't worry—you don't need an obsessive personality to succeed. We break down how anyone can align their passions with their business goals to make work feel less like work.

If you're interested in turning your passion into a successful business, this episode is for you.

Listen here.

P.S. - thanks for making Build Your Business a Top 50 podcast on the business charts!

BEFORE YOU GO…

Look at your setup right now.

How many channels of communication do you have open? How many different ways can people interrupt your flow?

Start with one change this week: Pick your most important daily task and give it 90 minutes of pure, uninterrupted focus. And if you can, try doing it twice a day.

No Slack, no email, no "quick checks." Just you and the work.

Reply and tell me how it goes. I bet you'll get more done in those 90 minutes than you usually do in 3 hours of "multitasking."

Talk soon,

Chris.