Context switching costs more than we give it credit for.

One of the effective ways to counter context switching costs is by following the sage advice of batching. More tactically, batching tasks by function.

• Writing code and reviewing code are now two separate functions within the same cognitive function. Even writing/reviewing code for two separate code bases are two separate sub-functions.
• Grouping/responding to all emails is an email function. Even that is further broken down into triaging email function and responding function.

The best analogy is sorting forks, knives, and spoons when we are putting them in drawers. We can throw all silverware together. But then finding a spoon in that pile will take time whenever we need a spoon. The task changes from getting a spoon (execution) to finding a spoon (identification). And that's a cost we want to avoid.