Thursday | 20 November, 2008
Information Overload Is Killing You and Your Productivity
IT leaders living in the “Too Much Information” Age need to take control of their work lives. A Burton Group report explains how to do just that.
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So what can IT execs do? Besides ensuring that CIOs surround themselves with trusted advisors and assistants who can help them control the information, 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.
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."
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