Use AI With Minimal Context Switching
Context switch refers to shifts in where attention is applied. Using an AI can involve applying attention to both “create” and “edit” actions, which can lead to context switching and impede task flow. One method for increasing the effectiveness of your AI use is to reduce context switching. Some AI practices will increase the amount of task switching necessary, but by strategically scoping the requests made to the AI, you can actually reduce this frequent friction.
For example, consider a recurring update describing progress on work tasks. It is possible, certainly, to prompt the AI to describe the full scope of the update, and to then edit or review the output to ensure that it’s aligned with the expected content and that it is accurate. This requires writing a prompt, corralling all the relevant information to be included, and finally editing the output: three distinct activities. While this might be easier in some ways than writing out the update, it is unlikely to be faster, and it requires the additional efforts of prompting and review, expanding the scope of the task to include planning, prompting, and editing. It expands the amount of context switching necessary to complete the task.
What if, instead, the prompt was reduced to ask only for a template for the message? If the AI produces a valid template, which seems likely given the prevalence of status update examples throughout the internet, then the only task remaining is filling out the template. This reduces the effort to only two activities: the initial prompt, and then recalling information that fills out the AI-generated template. These activities are both less demanding than prompting for direct information or editing AI output, which means that the overall process is faster. And, if the template produced works well, it can be used again for the next instance of this particular recurring update message. Even less repetitive cognitive labor for the human.
Using an AI to produce small, incremental gains like this creates compound acceleration and can increase work quality while making things easier for you. To learn more about adopting AI, visit https://mockingbird.cc.
