Each day I, like many others, sit with my laptop or smartphone and open a collection of apps. Throughout the day I change that collection, closing some and opening others. I focus, refocus, arrange and rearrange them constantly. Each time I am effectively assembling software into some imagined workflow, and workflows are the engine of modern productivity. The feature I am using to set up the workflows is a largely hidden one that as designers we call ‘Multitask Computing.’ It’s most commonly part of the platform operating system. Multitasking is why people still own laptops and why designers work very…

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