Occasional Thoughts

No computer processor can do multiple different jobs at the same time - there is no real multitasking going on. Instead a processor does one job after another.

When you see programs working in two different windows at the same time, it's just because the processor is doing a piece of work for the one program running in that window, doing a little bit for the other window in the background, doing a little bit for the operating system, again doing a little bit for that window in the foreground and so on. Suddenly a hardware interrupt requires CPU team and the current task will be interrupted.

A CPU constantly switches its context to simulate a parallel processing to the user. However these context switches cost quite some performance. The processor must load the working data into its internal memory, continue working on a chunk, store the current working data to the RAM, figure out, which chunk has to be processed next, load its data, continue working... and so on. The real computation time is wrapped by a lot of overhead.

A Human Brain is a CPU

Nothing new to computer pros - so why am I telling you that? Because humans do their work just as processors and both face similar problem: How to complete tasks while being most productive as team? This article shows some strategies on how you can deal with context switches in an engineers work environment while still being available to your team mates when they have questions and to keep them and you running. It's mostly about the right use of communication and that's what this article is focusing on.

I just found this excerpt from a German book:

"Kleine Brötchen", Achim Schwarze (Berlin), Goldmann-Verlag (München), Februar 2005

It describes that being laid off is not always just a bad thing, when you have to lower your sight. Achim Schwarze desribes how his dot com company was liquidated and how his live has changed afterwards from a highly paid manager to a simple guy and why his old friends envy him.

Sorry, the page linked above is only available in German.

Do you also know this? Monday approaches and you are feeling sick. And I am not talking about these days, when you don't want to go to work because you have to cure out the hangover from the party on Saturday. I mean really sick.

Is it just me, who wonders why someone preferably sick on Mondays? Is it because the weekend is the time, when you are mostly at home and the pathogenic germs your kids brought home from the kindergarten have time to attack your immune system? But haven't we learned that this takes some days?

Well, I just hope that my employeer believes that I am really sick, and hell, I am! I even spent new year's eve in bed coughing and swallowing pills against the headache. At least I was not alone since my wife is also sick. Just the kids are alright, after they brought the virus home. Thank you kids, for that wonderful christmas gift.