- Researchers found breaking the large tasks into microtasks resulted in longer overall task completion times, but higher quality outcomes and an easier experience.

- For microproductivity to be successful people need access to the right task at the right time. The microtask a person is asked to do should match the person’s available form factor

- Microtasks should match the person’s available cognitive resources. Some microtasks are harder than others, and that makes them challenging to do while distracted.

- Researchers found people were able to do a better job with hard tasks on a sentence (like changing the tone of the sentence) after they had first done an easier task (like spell checking) on the same sentence. Thoughtful task ordering can help people take advantage of this by using easy microtasks to help draw people into larger and more complex microtasks.

- Research shows concrete progress with frequent feedback can help reinforce a sense of self-efficacy. Completing microtasks could provide motivational benefits in addition to functional efficiency, encouraging continued productivity beyond an isolated moment.


Conclusions and Implications (The future of Microproductivity) 

This article was written by the leader of the Microsoft Research team detailing concepts and developments needed to understand the domain of Microproductivity. It also presented the conclusions of a short study conducted by the team (not explained in detailed), and its practical implications. 

Macalester College

The act of decomposing tasks into smaller microtasks that leverage micromoments (specific, strategic moments that occur during a person's day).

Microproductivity

Teevan, J., (2016) The future of Microtasks. Microsoft Research Team. XRDS. WINTER 2016. VOL .23.  NO.2  DOI: 10.1145/3019600

The future of Microproductivity

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/microtasks-and-microproductivity/

Microsoft's Microproductivity Research Team Overview

Mobile devices offer people the opportunity to get useful tasks done during time previously thought to be unusable. Because cell phones have small screens, they’re useful for short, simple tasks. The researchers in this study designed a special app, Play Write, whose purpose is to make complex editing tasks more fragmented and achievable while working on mobile devices. Results suggested that the app made participants feel more productive and less stressed, and they completed more edits on a document using the app.

Multitasking with Play Write, a mobile microproductivity writing tool

 In this paper, authors explore how software might help programmers make productive use of their time while away from their workspace. It explores how to facilitate programmers’ mobile work practices and cross-device work as subjects express interest in work more grounded in their existing code tasks. The paper introduces Mercury, a mobile programming tool that auto-generates microtasks based on programmers’ existing code. 

Mercury: Empowering Programmers’ Mobile Work Practices with Microproductivity 

This article explores the usefulness of gamification on task-management applications in terms of motivation, engagement and productivity. 

 Deconstructing ‘Gamified’ Task-Management Applications 

Small jobs that requires a low level of skill and takes minimal time to complete. Microtasking is the process of splitting up a large job (macro-task) into smaller jobs.

Microtasks/ Microtasking

A small gap in time that occurs between other segments of occupied time during which microtasks can be completed

Micromoment

The future of Microproductivity 

- A Brief Perspective on Microtask Crowdsourcing Workflows for Interface Design
- Skill Development Framework for Micro-Tasking


Further Literature

The completion and aggregation of microtasks. Involves motivating people to complete microtasks, designing where and when to embed microtasks, and managing attention.

Task Completion Definiton

The sourcing of tasks and microtasks to an actor to complete. For example, a microtask could be completed by the task owner, peers, the crowd, or automation.

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