MMIM503 - Lecture 3 Summary & Review

Article Name: Death by Information Overload
Author: Paul Hemp
Publication: Harvard Business Review
Audience: Practitioners

Summary: 259 words
This HBR article focuses on exposing and addressing the problems associated with information overload caused by the torrent of emails, instant messages, and so forth. Although it is acknowledged by everyone that information is the inevitable potent tool of the knowledge worker, unmanaged information access can be overwhelming and disadvantageous to both individuals and companies. The author identifies the problems faced by individuals and companies and goes on to suggest solutions to alleviate them. While the problems for individuals is primarily piling up of information and inability to process it at the same pace, the major issue for companies is loss of productivity and efficiency. Employees spend a considerable amount of time processing email not all of which is of real value. Studies by Microsoft show that a single interruption will take on an average of 24 minutes to return to the suspended task. Another concern is the hold-up of decision making due to the ‘online silence’ of the recipient whose reply might be required to proceed on a major project. However, many organizations fail to acknowledge this problem partly because it is not easy to quantify the costs and consequences of information overload.The solutions suggested by the author include good use of technology tools in the market like email filters; twitter feed streamlining, work pattern sensors etc. to address individual and organizational productivity issues. The author strongly advises that it is necessary to make a conscious effort to manage information overload at a personal level and bring about cultural changes in organizations to tackle this multi dimensional problem.

Review: 64 words
A genuine practitioner oriented article with many tips to manage information overload at an individual and organizational level. The examples cited are really enlightening. The article is set out with clear structure and headings to guide the reader and therefore contributes to better comprehension. However, I thought the article heavily dwelt upon email and communication information that it could have been more aptly titled.

By Githin - Knowledge Regiment group