The Jeff Beckham Weblog

As IBM researcher John Tang says here, there is “a certain amount of irony” in the fact that top technology firms are banding together to study ways to solve information overload. Even more ironic is the proposal that the solution to this particular technology problem is “simply more and better technology”.

It’s not a technology problem, however. Mark Hurst, whose book Bit Literacy addresses this very issue, has said time and again that the solution lies not with technology, but with learning to “let the bits go“: getting your email inbox down to zero once a day and deferring action items to a to-do list. Psychology and human action is the key — not technology.

Merlin Mann of 43 Folders also is skeptical that technology or rules like “No Email Friday” will address the problem:

Bottom line (and I’ll never stop saying this): stop trying to eradicate human communication problems by introducing waves of new technology or made-up rules of social engineering. A company with email problems is also experiencing people problems. Until you understand why the wetware isn’t working like you’d expected, don’t go nuts with top-down technology solutions and over-clever edicts.