Next Generation solutions to the Information Overload problem

I have been meaning to blog about this for ages, as I'm a fan of Nathan Zeldes's original e-mail program to tackle information overload at Intel, here are some new ideas on dealing with information overload:

• Infomania: why we can't ignore it any longer - a new paper by

Nathan Zeldes, David Sward and Dr. Sigal Louchheim that represents their call to action on information overload and its impact on decision making, business processes and quality of life; and

• And putting this call to action into practice, Zeldes annouces their Quiet Time pilot at Intel - "300 engineers and managers, located in two US sites – will adopt a 'Quiet Time' agreement. Every Tuesday morning they will all set their email and IM clients to “offline”, forward their phones to voice mail, decline all meetings, and isolate themselves from 'visitors' by putting up a 'Do not disturb' sign at their doorway. Thus, for half a day each week they will have the ability to focus on the 'thinking work' that researchers have shown is critical to creativity, innovation, and to faster, better production of output"

BTW This also reminds me that I came across a research organisation,  called the The Institute for Innovation & Information Productivity, with a stated mission to "conduct and engage in the study of the impact that information technology has on innovation and information work productivity in all sectors of global business, and to support, enhance and promote it effectively." Members of the institute include HP, Microsoft and Unisys.

Technorati tags: Intel, Nathan Zeldes, Information Management, Information Overload, Infomania, Quiet Time, Institute for Innovation & Information Productivity