One of the most commonly cited sources of lost productivity for founders is context switching — the cognitive cost of moving repeatedly between different types of work throughout the day. Task batching is a simple but effective technique for reducing this cost, and one of the first approaches productivity experts recommend to founders who find their days feel fractured and their deep work time insufficient.
Task batching involves grouping similar types of tasks together and completing them in dedicated blocks of time, rather than distributing them across the day. Common examples include processing all email in defined windows rather than continuously, scheduling all calls on the same days, and grouping creative work into uninterrupted blocks. The principle is that repeated switching between different types of cognitive activity is costly — both in transition time and the reduced quality of attention during each task.
Task batching works best when combined with calendar blocking — designating time slots for different categories of work and treating them with the same commitment as external meetings. The most effective batches reflect the natural rhythms of the work and the founder's own energy patterns through the day and week. Our guide to task batching and time blocking covers how to implement the approach for different types of work.