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Does instant messaging (IM), email, and social media make us more
productive?  Of course they do, right?  ...  Well, the real answer is
'no' (what would be the point of this post otherwise?:).  As a
Community Manager for two open-source projects I reach out and
'connect' with people as part of my job.   In doing so I use Twitter,
mailing lists, IRC, and discussion forums almost constantly, but what
about people who aren't tasked with making connections and building
community?  Is it good for them?  What about the secretary whose
Facebook page is constantly updated throughout the day or the sales guy
who updates his followers minute by minute?  Are they as productive as
they should be or are they just awesome multi-taskers?

Let's look at a simple fact ...

The human mind does not process information in parallel (you may want to go back and read that again).  It just can't be done.  I recently read The Myth of Multitasking by Dave Crenshaw.
 In his book he uses a simple example that is very convincing.  Simply
take a sheet of paper and draw a line across the page.  Above of the
line you will write the alphabet, below it the numbers 1 to 26.  The
kicker is that you write one letter and then one number, so you'd write
'A' above the line and '1' below the line, then you'd write 'B' above
the line and '2' below the line, oscillating back and forth until done.
 Time this exercise.  Next, time yourself writing just the alphabet and
then just the numbers 1 to 26
in serial without switching back and forth.  If you're like most people
you'll find that it takes about twice as long to do the first exercise
as it does the second.  So think about that.  You did the same amount
of work in both cases but it took you twice as long.  The only
difference was context switching.  Unfortunately, context switching has
become the "norm" in today's offices.

People
forget that multitasking isn't about processing information in
parallel, which we just proved was impossible.  Multitasking originally
meant juggling or managing multiple tasks during a given period of
time, not at the same time.  Somehow the definition was hijacked to
mean something more akin to parallel processing.  Now people brag about
how many conversations they can carry on at once, but based on what we
now know, what they're really saying is "Look at me, I'm getting less
work done".  Probably something you don't want your boss to know :).

The other thing to remember is
that every communication channel has it's own place and purpose in the
world and changing conventions can be unproductive.  Email was born to
replace memos and letters.  No one expected you to reply to a memo or
letter within minutes of it being issued.  Your memos would gather in
your mailbox and you'd pick them up once a day and work through the
replies, just like you still pick up your mail once a day from the Post
Office.  What's changed is the use paradigm and expectations.  Now in
this world of cell phones and computers that has people linked in
everywhere, all the time, we expect immediate responses to our emails.
It's just not realistic.

Similarly, IM changed too.  Originally,
it was a social activity done during off-hours.  You would log on to
AIM from home when you were actually AVAILABLE and chat with your
friends.  Now it's moved into the workplace, but in doing so kept many
of it's conventions from when it was used at home, such as the default
status of "Available".  The same goes for Twitter.  What used to be an
extracurricular activity has suddenly found it's way onto workplace
desktops.  Don't get me wrong, all these things are useful tools in the
right situation, but they need to find a productive place on our desks
without being distracting.  NOTE TO SELF:  It's ironic that I'll be
pimping this via Twitter? :).

In 1971 the economist Herbert A. Simon wrote “What information consumes is rather obvious: It
consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information
creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention
efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might
consume it.”  Sage wisdom, but how do you apply it today without seeming like a Technophobe and dropping "off the grid".  
One thing we can do is remember that newer technologies may have
evolved under social circumstances and not business ones.  This means
the conventions which were adopted may be perfectly okay at home, but
detrimental to the "Productive Desktop". 

Here are a few other tips to reclaim some of your productivity...

Remember
when we where in school and had to write all those tedious papers.  Our
teachers taught us to use outlines to organize our objectives and
ideas.  We need to revisit that same strategy now.  Before logging on
to your computer in the morning or after lunch, simply write down what
your goals for the next few hours are and what tasks need to
get done.  The point here is to set mini-goals for yourself and make
sure you understand the steps necessary to achieve those goals.

The
next thing on my list may surprise some, Internet Relay Chat (or just
chat).  Chat has been around since the dawn of the Internet but evolved
mostly in technical communities.  Chat has a different usage paradigm
than the "ever distracting" IM.  It's a communal technology which means
its goal is to gather users with similar interests together into a
real-time forum.  Once together they can ask questions of the entire
group and not specific users.  This means users of the group can
monitor the room at their own pace and ask or answer questions to a
group of participants.  The goal of IRC is not to query specific users
but give participants a forum in which many people are participating
simultaneously which reduces the burden on a single user.  Open-source
projects use chat all the time but it hasn't been widely adopted in the
business community which is a real shame given it's advantages over IM.

The
thing about IM is that it's a
direct connection to your attention especially since most users
maintain the default status of 'Available' (that's just asking for
trouble).  I'd say my biggest distracter is currently IM when my status
is 'Available', but what can you do?  During those periods when you
know you need to focus, simply set your IM status to "Do Not Disturb". 
People will rarely bother you if your status is something other than
"Available".

Another
great tip for regaining productivity is to only check for email, RSS,
or Twitter updates every so often.  Set aside some amount of time in
the morning and in the afternoon to go through your email and feed
updates.  You'll be amazed at how much more you get done when your
email or RSS icon isn't flashing at you constantly.

There are
several ways to try to take back your life and I've only covered but a
few here.   The key is to be proactive and manage technology and
information the way you manage everything else in your life.  Too much
of anything (even a good thing) is often bad.

If you are looking for some good books to read I'd suggest Getting Things Done by David Allen and the Myth of Multitasking by Dave Crenshaw.

Related Posts:

What Really Matters?
Lost Productivity
What does Potential Energy and Collaboration Have in Common?
In Defense of Distraction

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