Containing the Deluge

Dr Jay Burmeister, lecturer, Information Environments Program, School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at the University of Queensland, has conducted an interim study on the negative affects of e-mail on productivity. He says there are two sides to the e-mail equation. The behavioural side consists of those things people can do at an individual or organisational level to try to a) reduce the amount of useless information and b) cope with the information that comes in. The technical issues include designing better e-mail programs that support people in those behavioural endeavours, both at the individual and the organisational level. CIOs need to consider all four aspects in seeking to contain the negative affects, he says, and recognise the need to develop different techniques and strategies for the four different quadrants.

"As an example on the individual behavioural side of things there are a number of tips for personal things you can do, like turning off the beeper so as not to allow the e-mail to interrupt you," says Burmeister. "You can also select three times a day to read it, so you feast rather than graze all day. That's an individual work practice you can get a hold of to try and reduce the disruptive nature of e-mail.

"If you looked at the individual technical side, it's things like learning to use your e-mail software, learning how to use the filter and setting it up. Then at the technical corporate level I've heard one company turns their e-mail server off between 11.00 and 1.00 every day, which means there's a two-hour period where people are not going to be interrupted by e-mail."

Other organisational technical initiatives include putting in virus and spam filters, he says, while at organisational behavioural level, people need to get together to agree on an appropriate strategy. For instance, too many people "cc" their boss on too many e-mails, seeking a pat on the back, or to cover their butt. The organisation should agree on the sort of things employees may and may not send to the boss.

"You can also put little things at the beginning of the header: things like Â'ACT' which means an action is required immediately, or Â'FYI', meaning you don't need to read it now, you can read it later, which helps other people to know whether your message is urgent, whether it's just for information and so on," advises Burmeister.

The organisation should agree on protocols for how it will manage the flow of information. People need to be encouraged to think about the most appropriate way to broadcast information, which in some cases will mean putting messages on the post boards in the coffee room rather than sending an e-mail. The policy should also embrace personal use of e-mail, joke e-mails and so on, and sexism and racism. Depending on the management style of the organisation, the policy can be achieved either by consensus or dictum, or anywhere along the continuum.