Blog. Insight, issues, opinions and productivity solutions

He’s working!

Posted on July 26, 2011 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

A relative of a distinguished Professor told me that he had the habit of sitting in an armchair at home with his eyes closed. When someone would come in and try to converse with him, the Prof would say “Quiet! I’m working!” As indeed he was… to sit quietly and think is a key element at the heart of an academic’s job; they need to disconnect from all distractions and THINK. One must note that this particular scholar is now in his eighties, so his habits had evolved in the middle of the previous century. I wonder whether the professors.. Read more

How to keep distribution lists short

Posted on July 20, 2011 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

I was lecturing about Information Overload at an MBA course in Haifa University, and a student shared a lovely story. Long ago, she said, before email replaced paper correspondence, she used to work at a company where memos were written on special forms that came as a three-layer stack with chemical copying. You’d write or type the top layer and two copies were created on the layers below. This was very convenient (you didn’t need to mess with Carbon Paper) but had one side effect: you could only create up to three copies at once. If you needed more, you’d.. Read more

Telemarketing Information Overload

Posted on July 12, 2011 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

Today I got a call from a telemarketer who did her best to entice me to subscribe to a certain business journal. I told her I already had a subscription to a similar one, and she went out of her way to explain to me that hers contained that much more – more articles, more pages, more information! I may be too polite, so she kept going on even after I pointed out that I barely read a tenth of the pages of the journal I already receive; she continued until I decided enough was enough and told her that.. Read more

Audio recording of IORG “Literary Salon” webinar available for download

Posted on July 3, 2011 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

The IORG “Literary Salon” online event last week was very interesting, with five authors of books about Information Overload comign together to discuss their books. A recording of the entire event is available for your enjoyment here. A summary by one of the attendees is available here. Enjoy!

Yes, I do!

Posted on July 2, 2011 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

An attendee at a lecture at a multinational tech company pointed out to me that part of his problem with email overload stems from situations where he is part of a functional distribution list, say “All Engineering”. Some messages to the entire group he does need, but there are other specific recurrent  messages that other engineers need and he doesn’t. Then when he goes to the sender and asks to get off, he is told it can’t be done – you can’t “unsubscribe” from the list: if you’re an engineer, you are automatically included and cursed for all eternity to.. Read more

Join us at the IORG “Virtual Literary Salon” on June 27th!

Posted on June 25, 2011 · Posted in Uncategorized

Five influential authors who have written books on information overload will come together in a “virtual literary salon” produced by IORG – the Information Overload Research Group. The event takes place on Monday, June 27, 2011, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EDT. We will be hosting five authors – Dave Crenshaw (author of The Myth of Multitasking), Daniel Forrester (author of Consider), Maggie Jackson (author of Distracted), William Powers (author of Hamlet’s BlackBerry), and Jonathan Spira (author of Overload! How Too Much Information Is Hazardous To Your Organization). Each author will discuss two questions – why they wrote their.. Read more

The future is here!

Posted on June 23, 2011 · Posted in Off-topic

I was entering a parking lot at Bar Ilan university near Tel Aviv and noticed a brand new sign near the pay booth (left photo). I couldn’t believe my eyes… the sign says, in case Hebrew is Greek to you: “Parking for electric cars. Better place“. Of course we’ve all read about Better Place, Shai Agassi’s start-up company that is planning to convert the entire state of Israel to electric cars, by providing a nationwide infrastructure of charging points and by adding to gas stations robotic systems that will replace spent batteries with fully charged ones in less time than.. Read more

Paperclips and Facebook policy in the workplace

Posted on June 16, 2011 · Posted in Impact and Symptoms

I remember well the hysteria around Internet use in the workplace. Back in the mid-nineties, it suddenly became possible for employees to access the newly invented World Wide Web from their computers at work, and managers in many companies were mortified: people might (perish the thought!) use company assets for non-business use, and in doing so waste work time! Back then, we saw many knee-jerk reactions in the corporate world. Memos would be issued asserting that no one may access the net without written manager approval, based on “business need”; anyone who violated this wise edict would be severely punished!.. Read more

The iPad is mightier than the pen

Posted on June 7, 2011 · Posted in Off-topic

It has been remarked that younger people tend not to wear watches, because their ubiquitous cellphones and other computing devices make them superfluous (interestingly, this brings back the action of having to fish something out of your pocket to read the time –  a throwback to the Victorian pocket watch, without the chain!). But I’ve just been informed of another victim to portable computing, and it goes back much earlier than the watch. I was talking to a friend who is also a consultant and he told me that in his workshops the attendees often sit with iPads and other.. Read more

Respect and Telephony

Posted on May 30, 2011 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

A manager at a small company told me over coffee of a job interview she gave a young candidate, in the middle of which he received a cellphone call from his wife (who wanted, with the wrong timing, to wish him luck in the coming interview). I was curious how this had affected her attitude to the candidate. After all, on one hand, it is nice that he’d answer his wife – he proved to be a considerate spouse. Yet on the other hand he had interrupted the interview and did not have the courtesy to either shut the phone.. Read more