A method of parallel processing in which there is first provided a first thread which represents an independent flow of control managed by a program structure, the first thread having two states, a first state processing work for the program structure and a second state undispatched awaiting work to process; and a second thread which represents an independent flow of control managed by a program structure separate from the first thread. The method includes using the second thread to prepare work for the first thread to process and placing the work prepared by the second thread in a queue for processing by the first thread. If the first thread is awaiting work to process when the work prepared by the second thread is placed in the queue, the method includes dispatching the first thread and using it to process the work in the queue. If the first thread is processing other work when the work prepared by the second thread is placed in the queue, the method includes using the first thread to complete processing of the other work, access the work in the queue, and then process the work in the queue.