Information Overload III: First Generation solutions

posted by Nathan Zeldes on October 16, 2006

So, in 1995 we were already deep in email overload. Having just transitioned into IT as Computing Productivity manager for our Israel site, I decided to have a go at it. For starters, I went on a data collecting binge, interviewing users and trying to characterize what ailed them. I found some facts that are still relevant today:

• People were receiving too many messages/day. Managers, the worst afflicted group, could get 100 or so and spent 2-3 hours/day on processing them.
• Much of the burden was due to large distribution lists, many of them dated or un-maintained. Yet recipients were usually embarrassed to ask to be removed from a list, or thought it dangerous to themselves to risk missing something.
• People lacked the skills to use their mail client effectively, thereby making its use slow and laborious. Many were entirely unaware of time saving features that were staring them in the face.

I proceeded to put together a comprehensive solution program, and deployed it across our site in 1995. Over the years we’ve refined this program, tried it in other sites, and ultimately, in 2000, launched it across Intel under the name YourTime (which is, of course, what it’s all about!) YourTime is what I think of as a “First Generation” solution: it provides comprehensive training in behaviors, best practices and tips, but bases success on essentially voluntary adoption of these. It is an organizational program, delivered to groups working from the top down and implementing the following steps at each hierarchical level in the target organization:

1. Awareness Training propagates a set of predefined, organization-wide Management Expectations (e.g., “Use Reply to All sparingly”).
2. Group Discussions are geared toward identifying bad e-mail habits and their solutions (e.g., putting weekly updates on the Web instead of using e-mail).
3. Skill Coaching was provided, either through a human trainer or a Web-based training tool, in order to enhance users’ proficiency in using e-mail client features.

In each organization, top management staff was approached first and asked to buy into the program, and personally commit to role model it in their organization. Trained representatives of the IT program team help facilitate the required steps at this level. After the managers at one hierarchical level had gone through all three steps, they each championed the program within their own sub-organization, leading their staffs through the three steps, and so on throughout the organization, in “waterfall” fashion.
So how did this work out in practice? After the program was piloted we conducted a survey that showed us that 80% of program participants viewed it as beneficial; 71% reported an improvement in their own e-mail effectiveness; 63% saw an improvement in the quality of e-mail they receive from others; and 75% of their managers perceived an increase in the e-mail effectiveness of their groups. So far, so good… but when the program was extended to worldwide scope, it was found that the strict “waterfall” model has its problems. Although Intel’s top management had approved the program, its adoption in different business groups varied, depending on their willingness to prioritize the training. A key factor was the commitment of the manager leading a given target group… no surprises there. The outcome was that the program’s progress has been non-uniform from group to group, forcing us to open the deployment model to allow different groups at any level to deploy the program locally at their convenience, rather than waiting for the waterfall to reach them from above. The lesson is that if one deploys this program in a large company, one should plan to launch it independently in sub-groups of up to a few thousand employees each, rather than regard the entire company as one monolithic population.
Another observation is that a program of this type, which is based on training and voluntary adoption, requires ongoing maintenance. The impact lasts a year or two and then diminishes as people come and go and memories fade. We see various groups at Intel taking the initiative to reinforce the messages every so often when they feel the need. Meanwhile, we’re gearing up for second generation solutions…
And now, the Bonus: You can download the YourTime program in its entirety at ITshareNet.org, along with the Web-based training tool we’d developed. All this is shared freely, so you can try it, use it as is, or modify it for use in your own organization. Just be sure to share your impressions and conclusions on this blog, for all to see!

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tagged: email, infoglut, infomania, information overload