June 2010
Friends,
Just returned
from a special vacation abroad. Why special? Well, my
Smartphone managed to fall on its head just hours before I
headed for the airport. I could still phone, but its advanced
PDA and Internet functionality was all gone. I was going on a
vacation without Internet!
So guess what: it was a fine
vacation, and no harm done. A lone client who needed me
urgently got through with a voice call; everything else - most
notably email - waited for my return. Just like in the good
ol' days of a few years ago, I could focus on sightseeing and
relaxing...
It works - give it a try next time you take
a
leave!
Cheers,
This issue’s theme:
The cultural roots of Information
Overload
While everyone acknowledges the existence
of Information Overload, many fail to appreciate its
underlying causes, which can mislead them to address the wrong
things when they try to solve it. A key cause which can be
overlooked is the prevailing organizational culture, which can
explain many seemingly inexplicable behaviors; this is our
theme in this newsletter issue, and it is also a key factor in
my solution
offering to organizations with the maturity required to
try and modify their own culture.
What YOU can do about it
Actionable Tip
Much of culture
revolves around perceptions and expectations from the behavior
of others; one way you (as an individual user) can reduce your
email and communications load is by understanding and then
modifying the expectations of the people you communicate with.
Analyze your email and telephony patterns: what are the
underlying expectations? Do people expect an instant reply to
their emails, 24x7? Does your group require that everyone be
copied on emails, to be "in the loop"? Once you figure out
these and similar questions, try to negotiate different
expectations - ones that will leave everyone more time to work
(and live).
Analysis and Opinion
The way people
drive email abuse in a company sometimes reminds me of a
concept from Games Theory: the "Tragedy
of the Commons". The idea is that all of us would be
far better off if everybody sent and received less mail; but
no one dares to be the first to cut back on the sending, since
anyone who continues to send more will be more prominently
represented in the Inboxes and attention of those whom they
believe to affect their next performance review - a powerful
motivator in the workplace environment. Of course, you'd think
that managers know what their people are doing without being
flooded by mail; but the employees may not see it that way,
which is where the organizational culture comes into play: in
a company where there is more trust among people there may be
less "incentive" for sending unnecessary mail.
Other
cultural effects include the need for CYA, for creating a
"paper trail" to prove who said what, for escalating things to
higher management… all counter-productive but quite common,
and resulting in ever more mail moving about. Unfortunately
organizations are not always eager to explore such causes;
they like to think of their work environment as trusting and
rational. However, the ones willing to dig into the murky
undercurrents of mistrust and fear are the ones who will be
able to truly address Information Overload at its sources, and
will see the best outcomes.
Solutions and Resources
Unlike
technology problems, which are easily eliminated by deploying
this or that piece of software, cultural issues in a company
are far more delicate and difficult to resolve. To address
these, you will need to go through a serious analysis phase,
to understand what's wrong, and then through a culture and
behavior change process led by senior management over a period
of months (and sustained thereafter on an ongoing basis). My
preferred method is to start the process at the top management
level in the affected organization, get buy-in and define a
project team with diverse representation that will survey and
analyze the current situation, identify the root causes and
define the necessary changes before returning to executive
management for approval to deploy the solutions. My experience
shows that the investment is well worth the results.
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CoffeeFrom the blogA
meeting cost calculator!Reading
email or Understanding email?Facebook
and Email Overload reduction Subscribe
to blog feed Snapshots of IngenuityThese
days the iPad is all the rage... Apple's most successful touch
screen device, I imagine. Yet no one remembers Apple's least
successful touch screen device... which was far more
innovative, truly ahead of its time: the Newton MessagePad.
Introduced in 1993, this clunky granddaddy of all PDAs had
email, fax, touch screen with handwriting recognition, IR
link, and integrated PDA functions we have yet to see in
today's devices. Of course I have one in my
historical collection... check it out here!  |
