Blog. Insight, issues, opinions and productivity solutions

New Insight Article: Quality of Life Effects of Information Overload

Posted on January 7, 2013 · Posted in Uncategorized

Here is the fourth and last insight article in the series that analyzes the negative effects of Information Overload in an enterprise setting (though many of the points noted apply to individual knowledge workers, such as small business owners, as well). This article analyzes the cruelest impact of IO, one that doesn’t merely make people ineffective (which it certainly does), but also makes them miserable, and reaches out to hurt their families as well. The article reviews the different ways that IO destroys quality of life – at home, but also at work, where it has significantly reduced the level.. Read more

Why Disk Cleanup Matters, and How You Can Get It Done

Posted on January 4, 2013 · Posted in Individual Solutions

I suppose it’s because I’m a geek at heart, but I’m fascinated by the concept of disk cleanup… Why Disk Cleanup capability is important for you By Disk Cleanup I mean deleting unnecessary files  from the Hard Disk on your own PC. Unnecessary can mean many things – obsolete system files, temporary files, corrupted files… but more importantly, user files, files you’ve saved to your disk in the past and no longer need. This may be because you have newer versions of them, or because you have duplicates of the same version in different folders, or because they’re safely stored.. Read more

Why Cutting Corners in Risky for Knowledge Workers

Posted on December 24, 2012 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

Cutting corners: the special case of Knowledge Work The Wiktionary gives the following usage example  for “Cutting Corners”: The guy who built the fence cut corners when sinking the posts, and the fence fell over in the last storm. Not surprising: when we think of the risks of cutting corners, we naturally turn to construction and manufacturing, where any use of substandard materials or processes can easily lead to catastrophic failure. But in Knowledge Work, that wide domain many of us spend our careers in, cutting corners can be just as risky, and the outcomes can be harmful in insidious.. Read more

Join us at IORG’s “Overloaded 2013” in San Francisco!

Posted on December 21, 2012 · Posted in Uncategorized

The Information Overload Research Group (IORG) will host Overloaded 2013, a one-day conference focusing on Information Overload, on February 9, 2013 in beautiful San Francisco. Overloaded 2013 will revolve around a day-long and lively dialog amongst attendees, all focusing on addressing the costly problem of Information Overload. If you share our passion, we’d love your attendance in San Francisco on on Feb. 9, 2013.  We invite you to reserve your place by registering at http://overloaded2013.eventbrite.com/ . This event will follow the model that worked so well in the successful Overloaded 2012 gathering last year. We will have a couple of.. Read more

How YOU Can Achieve Work/Life Balance in the Face of Information Overload

Posted on December 18, 2012 · Posted in Individual Solutions, Organizational Solutions

Work/Life Balance and Email: an irreconcilable contradiction? We all know the facts (if you don’t, check out my articles). Your typical knowledge worker receives 50 – 300 email messages daily of which 30% are useless, and spends some 20 hours a week dealing with them (The Israel Internet Association passed out a survey before my lecture there the other day, and the results affirm these facts once again). These numbers mean that people are trying to overcome their overflowing Inbox around the clock, including evenings, nights, weekends and vacations. Any pretense at Work/Life Balance has disappeared with the arrival of.. Read more

How You Can Deploy “Quiet Time” to Increase Your Group’s Productivity

Posted on December 13, 2012 · Posted in Individual Solutions, Organizational Solutions

When I speak to knowledge workers about solving information overload, I mention some fairly hi-tech solutions: software products that prevent, reduce or help combat the infoglut they all struggle with. And while those are useful, some of the most effective solutions are entirely lo-tech. I already wrote here about No Email Day; let me now tell you about the solution called Quiet Time. How to disconnect and (maybe) win a Nobel prize As everyone knows, William Shockley won a Nobel Prize  as one of the team that invented the Point Contact Transistor at Bell Labs. As many don’t know, he.. Read more

Crafting Effective PowerPoint Presentations: Food for Thought

Posted on December 10, 2012 · Posted in Individual Solutions

In a previous post I promised you to write about how to craft great PowerPoint presentations. I was planning to give you a list of “do this, do that” tips, but I found myself thinking about some underlying factors that make a slide presentation effective (or not). This turned out much more interesting than just a list of tips, so I’ll share my conclusions with you as food for thought. The conclusions pretty much agree with the way I write presentations for my lectures; I will give you some pointers at the end. Do you really need a “Great PowerPoint.. Read more

New Insight Article: How Work Processes are Degraded by Information Overload

Posted on December 6, 2012 · Posted in Impact and Symptoms

I’m continuing to write the series of articles that analyze the negative effects of Information Overload in an enterprise setting (though many of the points noted apply to individual knowledge workers, such as small business owners, as well). The third of these articles discusses the damage information overload does to key processes in the organization, including effective meetings, team communications, work planning and people management (remember when meetings used to be about thinking and creating value together, not about ignoring each other and surreptitiously doing email?) The article reviews the ways that too much email and constant interruptions have degraded.. Read more

How to Improve Your Company Culture by the Judicious Use of Coffee

Posted on December 3, 2012 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

How coffee is provided and used in a workplace is intimately linked to the local company culture, and can be used to assess it and to steer it for better or for worse. Coffee is used universally by workers of every kind, and you’d think it doesn’t matter how it is consumed. But looking back over a long career in a variety of workplace scenarios, I realize just how much you can learn from observing how coffee is served in a company, and how the choices that you – as a manager – make in this matter can influence the.. Read more

How I Bring Value by NOT Teaching Time Management

Posted on November 27, 2012 · Posted in Organizational Solutions

I was explaining to a friend what I do in Information Overload space and at some point he said he’d thought I was doing Time Management consulting, and now he realized I don’t. Which set me thinking, and I realized there are two approaches to the problem, and indeed mine is not that of promoting Time Management practices directly. Why time management training does you good When I say Time Management consulting,  I refer loosely to the practice of educating people on how to handle their information overload in the context of improving their overall work, task and time management.. Read more