Does this happen to you?
You're sitting at your desk, minding your own business/doing research/planning your lunch, when an e-mail notification of some sort pops up. (I prefer the little envelope in the lower corner of my screen and a gentle tone.) There's a flutter of excitement, a feeling of dread. Who's it from? What are they asking for? Will it evoke a chuckle? (I hope it's not spam.) Can I help this person? Then, you stop what you're doing and open the message.
There's a debate about whether this behavior is time-efficient. Can you really focus on a task or project when you keep stopping to read e-mails? (There are also some differing opinions out there about whether one can truly multitask (how many windows can *you* have open before you get confused?), but that's a discussion for another post.)
A few recent articles on this topic have caught my eye.
The productivity issue was addressed in the New York Times article "Lost in E-Mail, Tech Firms Face Self-Made Beast" (June 14th). Fifteen minute e-mail breaks, checking e-mail just a few times a day, and even e-mail-free Fridays are all strategies that have been devised to cope with the onslaught.
Also in the New York Times, Luis Suarez of I.B.M. talks about how he mostly does not use e-mail anymore ("I Freed Myself From E-Mail's Grip," June 29th...a bit out of date, but, you know, I had lots of other e-mails I had to read first). Wow. How is that possible? So, I read on. He uses social networking tools. His company, being I.B.M., was open to it and had various applications (blogs, social bookmarking and networking tools, IM) already in place. That's a huge help. Luis has basically moved his communications operations from e-mail to applications that allow him to not only communicate but to share more readily, in a way that would not have happened through e-mail. One more reason that Web 2.0 and all its parts are our friends.
The flip side of his new way of working is actually an old way--the telephone. I've heard that advice, too. If it's longer than [some benchmark here], it deserves a phone call. It certainly can be a lot more personal than an e-mail (depending on your style, I suppose). But! But! What about keeping track of conversations? The old CYA? How can that happen if I use instant messaging, the phone (cell or other), or--gasp--an actual in-person conversation!?
I don't have a good answer to that except that we used to do it before e-mail. Another answer is that you have to pick the best tool for the job. Maybe it *is* e-mail. But, it may be a wiki, too.
But I digress.
This morning, after deleting and organizing what I could of my inbox, I still had over 50 messages in there. And they just kept coming. There were the e-mails from a few committees I'm on. And ones from discussion lists. And a few from members. I had a fleeting thought of declaring e-mail bankruptcy. Have you heard of this? But...don't panic (especially if you sent me an e-mail or are on one of my committees)...I did the responsible thing and answered what I could and filed some others (I'm a champ at creating e-mail folders and sub-folders). At the end of the day, I wound up with 20 emails. My goal was 30 (about one screen-full), so I felt like I'd won a gold medal.
But, you know, tomorrow is another day. And my inbox can't say no.
Update: Here's a blog post from Stever Robbins, with a few external links, that I thought you might find interesting. Information overload...good or bad?
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