I know for sure that I feel it sometimes. The email never stops! 🙂 Thank goodness I made the decision to not use the email capability on my Treo. I just don’t need to hear the “you’ve got mail” chime while I’m away from my office nor feel compelled to see who is communicating with me at every moment. (And yes, I have to struggle to stay away from email while at my computer.) Shutting down Outlook is my best way to focus when I really need to get something done. No interruptions.
This article in CIO confirms, once again, that information overload is an issue. 42 percent of IT managers complain that they are bombarded by too much information; 39 percent say they can’t figure out which information is current; 38 percent say they need to weed out duplicate information; and 21 percent say they don’t understand the value of the information they do receive. (From a recent Burton group report.)
If IT people, who know how to work technology feel this way, how is it for the rest of us??? I’m sure the percentage is higher!
The article goes on to talk about our increased expectations for responsiveness and that individuals feel an instinctive need to respond to their email and messages. What I love the most is their bottom line statement…
“Increased communication is not the same as effective communication,” writes Santos, a Burton group analyst and report author. “Interruptions and more information are not inherently bad. How an individual or organization reacts to it is what will determine effectiveness.”
Yeah!! I’m doing the right thing by trying to stay away at times from the little pest that just won’t be quiet. Techniques center more around our own self-discipline. If my ideas aren’t enough for you, here are a few more from the article.
Santos recommends these four tactics for limiting technology interactions and, thus, limiting the magnitude of the information overflow:
1. Schedule e-mail time. Set aside time for e-mail reading sessions for at least two to three times a day, for 5 minutes to 10 minutes at a time. (Sometimes this is easier said than done.)
2. Turn that “e-mail arrived” chime off! Avoid the Pavlovian effect of responding to the e-mail “toast,” which Santos says is that annoying pop-up interruption. “Use communication options on a scheduled basis, and limit interruptions to true emergencies,” he writes. (In addition, Santos also recommends that CIOs try an “e-mail free Fridays” program for their staffs.)
3. Discontinue BlackBerry use. (Or at least keep real-time access off and check it on a predefined schedule, Santos recommends.) “Rather than responding to interruptions,” he writes, “initiate communication on your schedule.”
4. Set aside immersion times. “One well-publicized approach to information overload has been promulgated by Bill Gates—the information retreat (called a ‘Think Week’). Biannually, Gates sets aside a week to consume items, books and articles of interest accumulated by his assistants,” Santos writes. “This accomplishes two things: It keeps him current in a ‘crash course’ type of environment, and (for him) ferments a creative brew of ideas that translate to strategic initiatives for Microsoft.”
All good ideas to help us conquer information overload! Let me know any other ideas you have.
Be more effective!
Debbie 🙂
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