Soul Mx - Task Saturation

This is part of a series shared ecumenically with members to whom I was assigned; the goal was to start conversation and deep thought, and many of these messages led to great conversations.

Task Saturation
Original Publication Date: 14 November 2024

As we come into November it’s only right to talk about Thanksgiving and Thankfulness. It was Cicero that said, “Gratitude (thankfulness) is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” To be thankful is to be able to appreciate others, appreciate circumstances, and appreciate the opportunity to be useful. Cicero may disagree with me in equating thankfulness to gratitude, as many people have identified that to be thankful is one thing, but to be grateful is to do something with your thankfulness, it’s deeper than just mentally giving thanks, it’s an action.

As maintainers, Airmen, and human beings we have opportunities every day to be grateful, but sometimes we don’t see it. Have you heard the cynical quote, “My job does this cool thing where if you do your work well, you get to do someone else’s work too”? We have a word for that: bitterness, and it’s the opposite of gratefulness, but we do get to that point sometimes (oftentimes) and it’s easy to say, “I don’t need any of you, I’ll just do it myself!” Have you ever tried to do it all yourself? Could you run your shop, this squadron, this base, this MAJCOM, or this force by yourself?

If we’re honest, that would overwhelm us very quickly! Each of us has a limit to how much cognitive power, muscle, and time we have and when we reach that limit we become task saturated, where no more can be done, and what we are doing starts to suffer with mistakes and/or slowed responses and/or subpar performance.

I had the opportunity years ago to put my shop in the F-22 simulators; the training was invaluable on different systems and tactics, but what I gained the most was how much of the airplane is automated. It answered a question I’d had for years about why the F-22 didn’t have a WSO (Weapons System Officer) in charge of everything not related to just flying the airplane. The computers were trimming the flight controls, focusing the avionics, monitoring the engines, managing the battlespace, and some other cool stuff that I no longer remember because I’ve been debriefed; in short the computers were the WSO. The pilots (or in this case, the maintainers) just needed to point their airplanes in the right direction and shoot the bad guys. Even the landings are so assisted that maintainers with no prior training were safely getting airplanes on the ground, and many pilots say the F-22 is the easiest airplane they’ve ever landed. Because it’s all so seamless, it would be easy for the pilot to think they are some sort of superhero, but if they took the time to think about all of the systems and all of the people that made those systems work, there would certainly be much thankfulness (and there often is). Without those computers working to keep the pilot below the task saturation limit, there isn’t a person on earth who could fly an F-22 and certainly not make it lethal.

So this month, who and what can you be thankful/grateful for? Is someone not doing their job? Be thankful for the training and ability to take up the slack, and grateful for the opportunity to help them grow. Are you task saturated? Can you delegate, ask for help, or automate?