E-mail is a powerful medium for communication and document distribution. So powerful actually, that it is becoming the victim of its own success. When you keep these 10 simple rules in mind, your communication via e-mail will become more effective. The etiquette is available in an English and a Dutch version.
Posts Tagged ‘information overload’
Best practices: E-mail etiquette
Monday, October 13th, 2008Instruments: “information overload” self assessments
Friday, October 10th, 2008Information overload is often associated with uncertainty and work pressure resulting from the abundance of information people are confronted with during their daily work. Information overload therefore takes on the symptoms of work-related stress, something that one person is simply more prone to than another. When this form of stress develops, the strengths and weaknesses of your personality and your personal work style play a key role. These three self assessments (interactive MS Excel sheets) are designed to examine these aspects in detail. (more…)
Lessons learned: Coping with information overload
Friday, October 10th, 2008A growing number of knowledge workers is confronted with the consequences of information overload on a daily basis. In the METIS knowledge management project we performed a pilot study at the petrochemical multinational Basell (now LyondellBasell), where we investigated the causes of information overload and evaluated instruments to reduce the impact of information overload. A leaflet summarizing the study can be downloaded here (English), and a presentation with highlights of the study can be downloaded here (English) or here (Dutch).
Best practices: Efficient task management with MS Outlook 2003
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008A lot of work comes in via your inbox each and every day. In this booklet, we discuss a number of features in MS Outlook 2003 that you can use to deal with this continuous flow of work more efficiently. As a stepping stone, we use a working method that is often taught in time management and personal efficiency courses for dealing with e-mail. (more…)
Challenges for the nomadic worker: Part 1: In Sync
Monday, September 1st, 2008In the series of posts on the main challenges for the nomadic worker, this part focusses on the challenge to be up-to-date with the people you are collaborating with: being in sync.
What is being “In Sync”?
For an individual, being in sync refers to a mental state characterized by the ability to easily put information and activities in their proper context. In sync is situational, i.e., one is typically in sync with a group of people, a project or an activity. (more…)
Info-overload: We have met the enemy and he is us
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008Wij zijn onze eigen vijand zeggen Spira en Goldes van Basex in hun onderzoek naar information overload. De heren schatten de ellende van improductieve tijd op een schade van maar liefst $ 650 miljard aan de economie (in plaats van de eerder genoemde $ 588 miljard). Ja het zijn de kosten van werkonderbrekingen door informatie-interrupties. Een gemiddelde kenniswerker richt zijn aandacht dagelijks zo’n keer of vijftig op zijn email, blijkt weer uit onderzoek van de firma “RescueTime” onder 40.000 kenniswerkers. De jongens van Basex hebben nu samen met onder andere IBM, Microsoft en Google de Information Overload Research Group opgericht. Lid worden? Niet te snel, want Scientific American komt net met het bericht dat bloggen goed voor je is en dan doe je zelf weer mee aan die informatie-overload. Het is om gek van te worden. (source: frankwatching.com, 23-7-08)
Mailexplosie verlamt de werkvloer (in Dutch)
Wednesday, July 9th, 2008Door de explosieve stijging van het e-mailgebruik heeft ruim de helft van de Nederlandse beroepsbevolking wel eens last van een ‘information overload’. Dit artikel uit Inforworld beschrijft ervaringen van managers en medewerkers. (Source: Infoworld, June 24, 2008)
No!
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
Email is frequently used to assign work to others; it has become a “poor men’s workflow system”. Senders often expect a (nearly) immediate response, whereas recipients may think very differently – but are often silent – about that. A simple “No!”-button (“No!” for “I cannot do this”) can lower the threshold for the recipient to give a prompt reply and thus avoid unnecessary confusion for the sender (did she get my message?).
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