information overload

Drinking from the Fire Hose

Learning how to manage information overload

“You can't have everything.

Where would you put it all?”

-- Steven Wright

Is this your typical day?

• Start with checking 150 emails• Then 15 voicemails• Then your cell phone for more voicemails • …and maybe some text messages• Then check a dozen websites• And deal with paper mail• Then rinse and repeat ad nauseam…

7-Jul-08 4© Shally Steckerl, JobMachine, Inc. All rights reserved. Do not duplicate.

Your Goal Today

• Walk away with a clear strategy on how to better manage all the resources at your disposal while continuing to grow professionally

• And along the way learn how to…– Organize and maximize your recruitment desk – Decide what tools in which to invest time– Decide which learning resources are worth your attention– Extract knowledge from vast and freely available information – Use cost effective technology that increases efficiency

• But do this all without sacrificing effectiveness


Extract the Signal from the Noise

• There is such a thing as too much information• Information is not knowledge• Knowledge is used to determine meaning• Knowledge is applied when interpreting

information and deciding how to proceed.

Data Information Knowledge “Wisdom"


Reliable Resources

• Reading 200 blogs isn't going to make you more intelligent• But it will make you unproductive - so which blogs should you read?• Pick a few reliable and original sources and stick with them• What’s reliable? When you see something useful on a blog it may

be a “re-post” so try to find the original source and follow THAT blog• I call these “Must Read” like for example here’s a select few:

– Pandia Search Engine News: http://www.pandia.com/sew/– Search Engine Watch: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/– Glenn Gutmacher: http://www.recruiting-online.spaces.live.com/

• Here’s the rest: http://jobmachine.net/sourcer/sourcing_intelligence• You will also receive an OPML file of the “other” blogs I read


http://www.pandia.com/sew/

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/

http://www.recruiting-online.spaces.live.com/

http://jobmachine.net/sourcer/sourcing_intelligence

Measuring Quality of Information

• Make a list of sources you read regularly • Write down what percentage of articles you

found useful among the last ten items from each• Eliminate the bottom 50%• Google Reader offers “trends” to help decide• Also consider

– Posting length (look for short and sweet) – Posting rate (not too frequent)

7-Jul-08 © Shally Steckerl, JobMachine, Inc. All rights reserved. Do not duplicate. 8

Avoid the Link Frenzy

• Stay away from blogs that re-post other’s stuff • They are like Internet “fast food” – tons of

content but little substance• They post frequently but it’s not original content• Most of that content will not help you do your job • Save these in you reader until you're bored or

need a break


Overcome Overload

• Use an RSS Reader (see handout)• 15 min / day: read the sources on your shortlist• 30 min / week: “gist” the rest of the sources

– Scan headlines, click if you must know the full detail– If it’s important it will be covered more than once– Use sites like TechMeme.com to “gist” the news

• 30 min / month: delete unproductive feeds• If you fall behind take a lunch and catch up with

what you can, archive the rest


HINT: reading early in the day doubles your speed

Speed Reading Tips

• Scan the first and last sentences of each paragraph

• Turn headlines into questions and scan the text for the answers

• Skim the whole article first• Then go back and fill in the blanks


Information Triage: Keep or Delete?

• Data can be like clutter in your closet, don’t be a pack-rat• Bookmarks (favorites), emails, blog posts, articles and

documents, are good for a few months but you many never need them again

• Before you save it, ask yourself if it will mean anything to you in a year without the context you have now

• If the answer is no, then just delete it • If yes, then save it in a simple archive folder• You can find it later using desktop search (see handout)


Remember: Do it, Delegate it or Delete it

Prioritization Pyramid

The World

The Economy

Technology

Your Industry

Your Company

Your Job


Higher Priority

(Process 1st

as much as possible)

Lower Priority (Process

when/if you can)

Read and Process in order of importance

Batch Processing Using Views

1. View by "Sent To" (in order of priority)1. Act on, forward, archive or delete all the email where your name is alone in the TO: box2. Forward, archive or delete those where you were copied (may be a lower priority?)3. Scan and archive the ones that are from lists, groups, and social networks.

2. View by "Conversation Topic" or “Thread”– Lists all messages about one particular conversation together– Take action on or delete entire conversations at once without having to comb through

the whole mess.

3. View by "Sender" – Review all the messages from one person and either take action, move to a folder for

later or delete them.


3 Folder Inbox Management

• Create ONLY 3 folders to store email1. Action Required: items with assigned or ongoing tasks2. Follow Up: emails requiring more than 2 min to reply

• Include anything that represents “to do” items, reminders, requests that take time to complete, items where you are waiting on someone else (see “waiting for” handout). Also personal, fun, friends, family.

3. Archive: stores everything else including• Emails from LinkedIn and other social networks• Newsletters, email list messages, “FYI” information• Responses to recruitment marketing campaigns

• Everything can be found using search queries!


Color Your Emails

• Color messages in groups like – Gray for pseudo-junk– Red for internal messages from co-workers – Blue for close friends– Yellow for news– Green for external business

• It is much easier to distinguish the messages this way and take appropriate action.


Batch Processing Flowchart

• Every 2 hours quickly determine what to do with each email• Is it life threateningly urgent, or will it take < 2 min to reply?


Yes?

Respond immediately

No?

Determine action & create or assign task

Move to Action Required folder

Later reply required

Move to Follow Up folder

Immediate action or reply not required

Move to Archive folder

Delete!

If email is more than two weeks old: answer, archive, or delete it. Guilt will not make you more responsive later.

Boilerplate Emails

• 80% of your email is responding to the same 10 basic messages • Develop master templates for the most common e-mail responses• Save templates as signatures in your email program• Just reply and insert the appropriate signature file, and edit as

appropriate• Basic “thank you” responses like “Thanks for sending your resume”• Responses to frequently asked questions• Responses to administrative information requests• Preliminary screening questions (e-screen)• Directions and interview prep • Requesting a referral, checking references• Interview follow up and next steps• Letting them down (thanks but no thanks)• Keeping in touch


Evaluating New Tools

• Change is inevitable (except from vending machines ☺) • New tools and websites are created daily• Before sinking time into a new tool or website, do some research:

– Can you verify claims about its impact? – What similar organizations used it successfully? – What do people from those organizations have to say about it?– What do the recognized industry experts think about the tool/site?– What is required to support this new tool/site?– What type of support is available to help easy adoption? – Will it easily fit into OFCCP, EEOC and other audit requirements?– If not adopted now, will you need to adopt something like it in the future? – If so, how long can you wait without losing competitive advantages?


A Sampling of “Must Have” Tools

• Here are my top five1. Save data entry with Contact Capture2. Time Management with RescueTime3. Instant searches with Opera Browser4. Email assistance with Sandy5. Evernote captures all your thoughts/ideas

• Details and full list in handout


http://www.broadlook.com/contactcapture/trial/registration/?ref=jobmachine

http://www.rescuetime.com/

http://www.opera.com/

http://www.iwantsandy.com/

http://www.evernote.com/

The Pareto Principle (80/20 rule)

• Pareto, an Italian economist, noticed that 80% of the wealth was owned by 20% of the population.

• But this also applies to managing your day!• Work Tasks

– Make a list of all the categories of tasks you do at work each day– In a table, show how many hours you spend on each type of task each day– Add a column to rate how that task contributes to productivity– Delegate, eliminate or simplify low productivity tasks

• Do this with NO effort using RescueTime.com– Tracks all your computer use and websites you visit– Helps you identify unproductive activities


• RSS is like “Tivo” for your searches• Or “preset” stations on your radio• Save the “question” not the answers• Browsers have a suite of RSS-ready tools• Other RSS Readers include:

– Live.com– My.Yahoo.com– Reader.google.com– NewsGator.com– Bloglines.com

• Tutorials: www.blinkx.com/videos/rss+tutorial

RSS enabled Search Engines:

Live.comIceRocketExalead

RSS


http://www.live.com/

http://my.yahoo.com/

http://reader.google.com/

http://www.newsgator.com/

http://www.bloglines.com/

http://www.blinkx.com/videos/rss+tutorial

http://www.live.com/

http://www.icerocket.com/

http://www.exalead.com/search

7-Jul-08 © Shally Steckerl, JobMachine, Inc. All rights reserved. Do not duplicate. 237-Jul-08 © Shally Steckerl, JobMachine, Inc. All rights reserved. Do not duplicate. 23

Alerts

• Monitor what’s going on with your company, competitors, and key people (for free).

• Once you get great results from a search engine, keep getting them just as you would resume agent results from a job board:

• Google Alerts (www.google.com/alerts)• Delivered to your email address; includes News, Blogs, Web, Groups (Google groups

includes all Usenet newsgroups postings!) or all those types of search results• Yahoo alerts (http://alerts.yahoo.com)

• Useful categories (e.g., news search, blog search), though not as flexible for custom searches. Delivered via email, IM or mobile device.

• SendMeRSS (www.sendmerss.com) • Enter the URL for any RSS feed and it will be delivered to your email address.

http://www.google.com/alerts

http://alerts.yahoo.com/

http://www.sendmerss.com/

You are Going to Miss Something

• Here’s the bad news:– You can't read, remember, process and file everything. – There’s always going to be more of everything– So you are going to miss something

• But the good news is:– If it’s important enough, it will come back again

• So handle the important stuff, first• Deal with what you can, second• Archive anything that may be useful in a year• Delete the rest


Take-Aways

• OPML file of Shally’s blogs you should read• Shortcut Keys for Windows & Outlook• List of information management resources • Desktop Search handout

• To use Shally’s blogs-you-should-read feed, save the .opml file to your computer, then:1. In Outlook 2007, right-click on RSS Feeds and select “Import an OPML File”2. In Outlook 2003 or earlier, download the free plug-in from www.attensa.com/get-it/3. In other RSS readers, select Import and browse to the OPML file then follow

instructions for OPML feed import


http://www.attensa.com/get-it/

Contact Shally

Shally SteckerlFounder, JobMachine, Inc.

[email protected] | My Bio | MSN | Skype

We’re available for custom on-site and web-based training. Select topics from

over 50 hours of material! • P.S. Don’t forget to:

– Link with me to grow your network: http://www.linkedin.com/in/shally(Invite me via [email protected])

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