diff --git a/gclient.py b/gclient.py
index 160c4277f..9eec5d8b7 100644
--- a/gclient.py
+++ b/gclient.py
@@ -1175,7 +1175,7 @@ def Main(argv):
         '  %-10s %s' % (fn[3:], Command(fn[3:]).__doc__.split('\n')[0].strip())
         for fn in dir(sys.modules[__name__]) if fn.startswith('CMD')]))
     parser = optparse.OptionParser(version='%prog ' + __version__)
-    parser.add_option('-j', '--jobs', default=8, type='int',
+    parser.add_option('-j', '--jobs', default=1, type='int',
                       help='Specify how many SCM commands can run in parallel; '
                            'default=%default')
     parser.add_option('-v', '--verbose', action='count', default=0,