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Great post by Jonathan Spira entitled, “The Siren’s Call of Information Overload”
Here’s an excerpt:
Instead of multitasking what we actually do is task switching which is really a series of continuous interruptions. While this is done in the belief that one is being more efficient and getting more done, nothing could be farther from the truth. Each interruption comes with a penalty. Read more…
Check out this post… http://www.basexblog.com/2010/04/08/am-i-a-supertasker/
Here’s an excerpt from our friends at Basex, the research firm:
The study found that 97.5% of the subjects’ driving was significantly impaired while on the phone, meaning they took an average of 20% longer to hit the brakes when necessary. Word recall dropped 11% and math accuracy dropped 3%. Read more…
The average worker today focuses on a task for about three minutes – that’s it. Then, they’re interrupted or they interrupt themselves. Multitasking is a bunch of hooey. You can’t do two things at once, just like you can’t be in two places at the same time. Yes, you can SHIFT from one task to another, but you can’t do two things at once. Alot of folks think they can… And then they give each task less than 100% attention. What does that say for productivity?
Here is a good post with some background research on the whole subject of multitasking:
http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu/teachingblog/2010/03/04/multitasking-revisited/
Here is a recent post by Cody Burke on the Basex blog…
50% of all searches fail in a manner that the person doing the searchrecognizes as a failure. A far more significant problem is that 50% of the searches believed to have succeeded failed, but the person doing the search simply doesn’t realize it. As a result, that person uses information that is at best out of date but more often incorrect or just not the right data. When the “bad” information is then used in a document or communication, there is a cascading effect that further propagates the incorrect information.
To increase the odds that you will find what you are looking for, we’ve prepared five simple search tips that should result in better and more accurate results, regardless of where you are searching.
1.) Boolean logic
Search engines typically use a form with a search box into which one types the search query. To control the search results, use Boolean logic by typing AND or OR. Many search engines including Google default to AND when processing search queries with two or more words. To exclude words, use NOT (java NOT coffee, java -coffee). For increased relevance, use NEAR (restaurants NEAR midtown Manhattan).
2.) Options
Most search engines include options (on Google, these are found by clicking on Advanced Search). Use options to narrow down the field you are searching. Examples include file format (.ppt, .doc, .pdf, etc.) or Website (basex.com).
3.) Search tools.
When it comes to search, one size does not fit all. Use a variety of search tools beyond Google. Try search visualization tools such as Cluuz and KartOO on the Web and KVisu for behind the firewall.
4.) Meta search engines
A meta search engine runs several searches simultaneously. Tools that may be helpful include Clusty and Dogpile.
5.) Archived (out-of-date) materials or nonexistent Web sites
The Wayback Machine on the Internet Archive is useful for both older versions of Web pages and sites that have disappeared over time.
This is also available online at http://bit.ly/4ASazG
According to our friends a Basex, this is how knowledge workers spend their workdays:
28% – Unnecessary interruptions and recovery time
25% – Creating Content/ Doing Work
20% – In Meetings
15% – Searching, both online and in paper
12% – What’s left…
Deep thought: if you manage those email interruptions by shutting your inbox down, how much time will you reclaim?
Here is a review of the tool, XOBNI by our friends at Basex…
http://www.basexblog.com/2009/07/16/in-the-briefing-room-xobni-plus/
Did you notice what XOBNI spells backwards?
RePrinting: BASEX:COMMENTARY-OF-THE-WEEK BY JONATHAN B. SPIRA
E-MAIL: REPORTS OF MY DEMISE ARE PREMATURE
It is both premature and foolhardy to proclaim that e-mail’s reign as “king of communications” is over as a recent Wall Street Journal article trumpets.
Not that e-mail is the best communications medium for everything; indeed we know very well it isn’t.
Instead, e-mail has, in the past 15 years in particular, become that path of least resistance for almost everything that transpires within an organization.
Update status? Send an e-mail to a few hundred of one’s closest colleagues.
Finish a report? Send another e-mail to a few hundred of one’s closest colleagues.
The fact is that we use e-mail opportunistically rather than with an understanding as to what the impact of its use might be.
Sending that status report to those few hundred colleagues actually cost the organization ca. 24 hours in lost time when one calculates the few minutes each person spent opening the e-mail he didn’t need to receive in the first place – plus the “recovery time,” which is the time it takes to get back to where one was in the task that was interrupted.
The result of all of our communications (and it isn’t just e-mail) is Information Overload, a problem that costs the U.S. economy ca. $900 billion per annum. On August 12, Information Overload Awareness Day was observed around the world with meetings and discussions (see http://www.basexblog.com/2009/07/09/information-overload-awareness-day/).
But that’s just one day – each additional day that we don’t address the problem of Information Overload and take steps to lessen its impact costs billions.
Companies can take steps to lower their exposure to Information Overload (an article about what can be done may be found at
http://www.basexblog.com/2009/04/23/lowering-your-information-overload-exposure/)
but even raising awareness of the problem and understanding the impact of overusing such tools as e-mail can make a big difference.
This Analyst Opinion is also available online at http://www.basexblog.com/2009/10/15/e-mail-reports-of-my-demise-are-premature/
Jonathan B. Spira is CEO and Chief Analyst at Basex. He can be reached at jspira@basex.com
From my friends at Basex, the research firm:
Thanks to the various flaws common to most search tools, 50% of all searches fail. The good news is that those failures are obvious and recognized by the person doing the search. The bad news is that 50% of the searches people believe succeeded actually failed in some way, but this was not readily apparent to the person doing the search. As a result, that person uses information that may be out of date, not the best response for what he was looking for, or is simply incorrect. (We call this the 50/50 Rule of Search.)
Well, my friends at Basex got out their video cameras and interviewed some high level executives on the subject of information overload. They feel our pain, we feel their pain — we need a world solution. Sooner rather than later. Here is the 3 1/2 minute video.
Some people are relieved that they can’t be connected to their Blackberrys or laptops on that transcontinental flight, others get the shakes.
American Airlines has the availability, and Jonathan Spira, CEO and Chief Analyst at Basex, did a review of the service while flying cross country.
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