Unit of 1 - Dealing with Information Overload and Processing What You Need to Know and Share

Until recently the three fundamental stages of the communication that basically started with the invention of the printing press, Production – Distribution – Processing, have been in sync. However, in the last ten years, with the ubiquitous combination of the Internet, personal computers, and network connectivity, that graceful sync has become terribly out of kilter. We are now able to hyper produce and aggressively distribute information, but unfortunately we continue to process it at relatively the same pace.

The average US business professional now receives more than 30 legitimate e-mails per day and this is expected to increase by up to 80% each year! Workers say they print an average of 32 pages per day from the Internet and spend approximately 2 hours per day on e-mail. Another study indicates that over 1 billion pieces of content are published on the Internet each day.

The information overload crisis has two core causes. The first is that information technology (IT) has unleashed a vast potential to create and publish huge quantities of content. A University of California study estimated that each year we produce 250 megabytes of data for every man, woman and child on the planet. Another study suggests that an average knowledge worker spends between 5 and 10 hours per week trying to locate information they need.

The second cause is the limitation of the human brain to be able to make use of all this information. Moore's law predicts that every eighteen months computer processing power doubles while its price halves. Unfortunately there is no corresponding law governing the increase of capabilities of the human brain.

What we see today is the irresistible force of IT hitting up against the immoveable object of human intelligence. And this isn’t the only factor making our ability to manage information and knowledge more difficult.

We have been overwhelmed with multiple technology devices and applications that just don’t work well together, or in some cases, well at all. Additionally we have progressed into an era where each of us are more apt to be working on our own or at the very least offsite telecommuting, resulting in ourselves serving as our own first level support. As Tom Davenport of CIO Magazine so aptly put in two different articles this past year, companies are doing little to support the “knowledge worker” other than some unmeasured experiments, and “if businesses don't find a way to help the knowledge worker manage information technology, today's confusion will lead to tomorrow's insanity.”

Is the solution to try harder, to do more and do it faster? Should we just take multi-tasking to another level? Do we need to eliminate paper and go digital?

I don’t think so. One recent article cites research which indicates that multi-tasking is actually counterproductive. Another suggests that in general our attention spans are actually decreasing. Malcolm Gladwell and John Seely Brown in recent writings make strong cases for the value and continued need for paper documents.
I do believe there are four parts to the addressing the situation. First, since we each have a finite number of things we can pay attention to, there is a need to implement strategies to help us pay attention to the most important things. There are many approaches to implementing the 80/20 rule, the key is to pick one and truly use it.

Second we must develop a set of work processes or techniques that allow us to efficiently deal with what we’ve decided to pay attention to. These need to address such areas as: how to get organized and decide what needs to be acted upon now; how to process more efficiently; and how to reduce the incoming volume.

Third, we need to embrace and become proficient at the technology solutions that truly can provide benefits in our personal work. Unfortunately I often hear those most overwhelmed say, “I don’t have time to become more organized or learn some new technology.” Others in the similar situations indicate they are afraid of new technology or don’t want to show their lack of techno-savvy. Fortunately we are beginning to see the convergence and integration of a second generation of personal knowledge and information management tools that truly can make a difference. Outlook e-mail, electronic workspaces, social networking applications, Blogs, and searching tools are just a few that have made great strides recently.

Finally, each of us should assess and improve our own Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) cycle. We need to look at how we: discover and learn, manage what was discovered/learned, transform that into something of increased value, and finally how we communicate and collaborate with others.

Today is the era of the knowledge worker. I would offer that in this increasingly networked, connected, and real-time communication oriented world, there is no choice. To stay engaged and productive one must improve how they deal with the information overload and excel at Personal Knowledge Management.

Please contact ITI Associates (http://www.iti-associates.com) if you want to learn about personal knowledge and information management strategies, tools and techniques to improve your business and personal effectiveness.