Information Overload
posted by Nathan Zeldes on October 09, 2006
What do you write about when posting to an exciting new blog for the first time? If you’re me, it’s a no-brainer: I will, today and often, write on my favorite enemy of over a decade, Information Overload. By “write” I don’t mean “engage in recreational whining,” which is what most victims of bloated Inboxes and endless distractions do. Information Overload is perhaps the worst affliction destroying the productivity and quality of life of information workers worldwide, a problem costing industry billions of dollars annually; such a nemesis deserves nothing less than a full-scale, proactive effort to eliminate it. I’m doing my part over here, but I could use your help — together, we should be able to restore information to its proper role as our asset, not our master.
Oh, and I guess I’m supposed to tell you who I am, so here goes: I’m Nathan Zeldes, an Applied Physicist turned IT Engineer. I’m an IT Principal Engineer at Intel, and for the past 12 years I’ve been driving R&D in the field of Computing Productivity, that fascinating no man’s land where our nice, crisp computer technology meets the unpredictable, demanding, sometimes vexing yet always precious wetware that is our user base. Maybe I’l tell you more about it later. When I’m not working, I actually manage to program computers for fun, and I have a collection of computing history; you can have a peek at http://www.nzeldes.com .
Back to Info Overload. We will discuss solutions in coming posts, but first, let’s define our problem. In my view, the problem is that today’s Information Intensity - the ubiquitous, rapid flow and exchange of information, communications, and the implicit tasks they impose - puts our knowledge workers and managers in a chronic state of anxiety that is exacting a heavy toll on their productivity as employees as well as on their personal well-being. This problem is caused primarily by the combination of two distinct phenomena: one is Queued incoming message overload, and the other is Distractions/interruptions.
Queued messaging is primarily e-mail, and Queued is the key word: all those rants about how each week we produce more articles or books than in the entire 19th century, or whatever, are irrelevant as long as nobody expects me and you to read all those publications. The Inbox is different, because we feel compelled to clear it - to notice and somehow react to every item in it. Until we do, the mail accumulates, imposing on our time and on our peace of mind (you doubt this? We’ve all seen or felt the joy of a knowledge worker that has just spent half a weekend to reduce their Inbox to an empty state. Empty! Such ecstasy! - but for what? Did they invent anything? Solve a problem? Become wiser? the “achievement” is meaningless, and in any case the Inbox will be full again by Monday).
Distractions and Interruptions are a more recent problem than Email Overload, yet they are just as harmful. An astounding data point from a UC Irvine field study is that a knowledge worker can expect on average to do three minutes of uninterrupted work on any one task before being interrupted by an incoming email, instant message, phone call, co-worker, or other distraction. Other research shows that working in such fragmented fashion significantly impacts efficiency, creativity and mental acuity.
That these problems are painful and universal I know all too well, because some years ago Fast Company magazine published an article about my work and I subsequently received email from about 100 organizations on four continents, including Fortune 500 giants and tiny partnerships, universities and high schools, municipalities, churches, government offices, charities… all wanting to hear more and sharing the same woeful tale.
In a coming post I’ll share with you what we’re doing about Information Overload at Intel, at a level of detail that will allow you to copy and recreate what you like of it. But for now, please comment here in the blog: Does this problem definition make sense to you, or is your experience, in your organization, different? Do you care to hear our insights, can you share any insights of your own, and would you want to cooperate on the solution effort?
Comments (16) (closed)
tagged: distractions, email, infoglut, infomania, information overload, interruptions
Comments
Sep 25 | David Sward said:
Well done Nathan.
Sep 29 | Amy said:
Wetware? That’s a new one for me. That’s even worse than PEBKAC. At least you call us precious!
Oct 10 | Rafael Sidi said:
Nathan, these are two excellent points and I would like to learn nore about how we can cooperate with you on the solution efforts.
Oct 10 | Stephen Turcotte said:
As a CEO of a 10 person interactive agency, I have high hopes that the inventions and answers that you eluding to will be applicable to a small technology business in addition to the large enterprise. Also want to say that I love your new blog. It seems like you’ve chosen some engaging voices to contribute and also appreciate the economic look and feel of the blog. My favorite feature is the “add to” drop down menu. Happy blogging!
Oct 10 | Suzi Soroczak said:
Professor David Levy at the Information School at the University of Washington is also investigating the issue of Quality of Life and Information. He may be a good resource to chat with Nathan.
Oct 11 | TechieBird said:
Does this make sense to me? Absolutely! I see people drowning in information every day. There seems to be some kind of affliction (if it doesn’t already have a medical name it can’t be long before someone comes up with one) where people are driven to keep their own copy of every single bit of information that comes their way, just in case they need it later. I’ve seen guys with 10,000 unread items in their Inbox, there’s no chance of them ever finding time to read it, but they won’t delete anything. At the other end of the scale there are time management courses teaching people just to delete all their mail if they get behind “because if it’s important someone will send it to you again anyway”. (I have a well-practised ten-minute rant on that little nugget.) I guess the upshot is that I’m not sure how far technology can go to help in the most extreme cases, but I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Oct 11 | Nathan Zeldes said:
Stephen wonders whether Intel’s solutions will be applicable to a small business. Good question! I think some will, and some won’t; some elements of the problem are universal, others may vary (e.g. over here most of the problem email is internally generated, which may not be the case in his business).
However, why ask me, Stephen? Once I post some solutions, you can tell us yourself whether they apply - and if not, how they can be modified to apply!
Oct 11 | Stephen Turcotte said:
Ok, Nathan, You are such a teaser. I’ll have to subscribe to the feed now.
Oct 11 | Brian Landberg said:
Great topic!
Intel is a hyperactive (ADHD) company, and as long as we feel compelled to pay attention to all incoming signals, we will never get anything done, PERIOD.
Cleaning the inbox is a waste of time—since it will not contribute to Intel ROI or to higher salary for us. Better to train ourselves how swim in the ocean of emails rather than trying to bail out the ship every day. Since joining Intel last year, I am beginning to grow gills.
Bottom line on information overload: We must have an agenda and an expectation going into each day/week/quarter/year. Otherwise we will be drowned in tasks and FYIs that should not have been on our list.
I remember reading about a great Chinese physicist who learned most of his theory from one book, which he read and contemplated, line by line, while in prison during the “cultural revolution”. In some ways, information underload is superior to overload. Which is better: skim through 100 newly published books or master 1 great one?
Oct 11 | mortic said:
Hi,
since this is a blog and even you preach about combatting info overload - please get rid of the flash titles.
They are annoying and useless.
Thanks.
Oct 12 | Toan Nguyen said:
I think we all want a job where we can be drunk by midday so the only information we are likely to process is : 1 divided by 3 is 0.
Oct 12 | Zou said:
Information overload. I really don’t see that as being possiable.
As long as the information is correct and has substance.You can never get to much.
As a 55 year old male I can say for fact that I am a far more knowledgeable person now than when I was at 18 years old.
What changed me in those 33 years? LIFE changeed me living life. Success and failures and how you grow in that knowledge.
Same applies to all information its not the quanity or the quality of that info. Its how that info is collected and assimilated. This is how people and corperations grow.,
Oct 12 | Igor said:
Check this article, especially point #8:
http://joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html
Among other things author says that programmers need to have quiet non-distracting working environment.
Feb 24 | Maurene Caplan Grey said:
I ran across this video on YouTube — very applicable
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv99WA0xyNk
Enjoy!!
Feb 25 | Nathan Zeldes said:
Fascinating, Maurene!
Koppel makes a point I see as a major impact of information overload - that it is interfering with the ability to think. As he points out, with all the noise, people are “Losing the ability to manage ideas, to contemplate, to think…”
Mar 25 | Tresh Davis said:
The interesting thing is that the article was posted back in October, and yet it could not be more relevant. From recent news, google’s algorithms are working hard to determine how to cut “information overload” as most of the information out there is clearly useless spam.