Archive for February, 2013

Radical Email Overload Solution: Batching Email Delivery

Posted on February 19th, 2013 · Posted in Individual Solutions, Organizational Solutions

One of the worst causes of information overload is the constant arrival of email into the knowledge worker’s attention sphere. With new mail arriving every few minutes, people can never fully focus on their work. If they haven’t turned off the “you’ve got mail” alerts they are passively distracted; if they have, a sizable fraction of users still distract themselves by checking for new email every few minutes. What is needed is a way to prevent this checking. A radical email overload solution concept Over my years of helping companies fight information overload I’ve devised my share of original solutions;.. Read more

New Insight Article: The Makings of a Good Corporate Telecommuting Program

Posted on February 12th, 2013 · Posted in Organizational Solutions

Some companies think Telecommuting means letting employees work from home. They’re wrong.  Telecommuting does involve working from home – but there’s a lot more to it, and many companies don’t realize what it takes to do it right. Of all the changes in workplace methodology that I’ve led at Intel, the one I’m proudest of is the Telecommuting program. Because we’ve done it right, resulting in a true Win/Win for the company and for countless employees in it. What made it such a success was the fact that we didn’t just allow people to work from home as individuals; we.. Read more

How You Should Listen to Your Employees

Posted on February 4th, 2013 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

Every respectable large company does Organizational Sensing. This is usually driven by the HR group, as a structured, formal process. It might include annual Organizational health surveys, Sensing interviews with a sample of employees, Focus groups, and so on. All of which is useful; it can spot major problem areas, and yields interesting data that can be used at many levels, from raising management awareness to defining solution interventions. All of which does not exempt you, if you are a manager at any level, from doing your own sensing, and doing it right – by listening to your employees. How.. Read more