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Concept

Multitracking

Multitracking is holding several real options open at the same time rather than in sequence. Because no single option is your ego, you evaluate more honestly and take feedback better. It is the Heaths' second tool for widening options.

In a study of designers, those who developed several concepts at once produced better work, received feedback less personally and were more confident in the final result than those who polished one concept at a time. The mechanism is emotional as much as analytical: when you have one option, criticism of it is criticism of you; when you have three, it is information. Applied to decisions, multitracking means applying to three roles rather than one, viewing six flats in a weekend, or interviewing three suppliers in parallel. The Heaths warn against the opposite failure, too many options, and suggest two or three real ones.

A real-life example

A couple looking for a flat view one a week and fall in love with each in turn. Their friends set three criteria, view eight in one weekend, and choose calmly; no single flat had become their story.

How to use it

  1. 1Run two or three real options in parallel, not one at a time.
  2. 2Notice when criticism of an option feels like criticism of you; that is the sign you have only one.