Bit Literacy - Mark Hurst [7]
Today it’s harder and harder to be done. Just as we answer one e-mail, two more come in; just as we finish one project, we’re reminded that another is behind schedule. We only partially listen to the music or watch the video we just downloaded, because we’re too busy downloading another to put in the queue. Bit literacy grants the possibility of being done—not just occasionally but on a regular basis—in order to work more productively and enjoy a fuller life outside of work.
The next several chapters describe the method for achieving emptiness (and productivity) in each of our major incoming “bitstreams”—e-mails, todos, newsletters, photos, and so on. In each case, the method shows how to let the bits go, thus avoiding overload. Later chapters discuss how to create bits most effectively, so as to avoid overloading the recipients of those bits.
One other component to bit literacy is learning to work appropriately with tools. Tools mediate our engagement with our bits, so efficiency is essential. The faster we are with the tools, the sooner we can be done, and the more time and energy we’ll have for more important things. After all, our jobs are not simply to manage bits. Instead, it’s only when we let the bits go—when we achieve emptiness—that we can begin to think clearly and work more effectively. Bit-literate users must constantly look for the simpler tool, the faster method, the easier interface. Thus the final chapters discuss how to work with today’s tools in a way that lets the bits go with the greatest efficiency.
Part II: The Method
Chapter 4: Managing Incoming E-Mail
The first skill to learn in bit literacy is managing incoming bits, and the most important bitstream to manage, for most users, is e-mail.
There is a simple solution to e-mail overload: don’t become overloaded. After all, it’s only logical that if overload is the problem, then removing the load is the solution. Bit literacy means letting the bits go; anything else perpetuates the problem. Consider what happens when the e-mail inbox is full of messages—dozens, hundreds, or thousands. The overload makes the user less effective in several ways:
It takes longer for an overloaded user to reply to an incoming e-mail. Each new e-mail that arrives is in competition with the swarm of e-mails already clamoring for the user’s attention. The higher the message count, the less chance any given e-mail will get a timely response. What’s worse, it’s more likely that the user will leave something important undone.
Prioritization is difficult. Even if the user knows which few messages are the most important, the inbox isn’t built to display them in that order.
It takes longer to find a specific message in a crowded inbox. Even searching and sorting may not help much, since (for example) many messages from the same person, with the same Subject line, could all be sitting in the inbox.
It’s hard to remember which e-mails say what, requiring the overloaded user to open and read the same messages multiple times—an inefficient and demoralizing process.
An overloaded user cuts into the productivity of others, since colleagues may have to send extra e-mails to remind the user what he’s left undone. This adds yet more e-mail to the user’s bulging inbox and makes no friends around the office.
In Microsoft Outlook and other software-based e-mail programs, especially large inboxes are more likely to crash, losing all contents.
The problems don’t stop there. There are also psychological costs to a bulging inbox:
Overloaded users are never sure whether they’re forgetting something important buried in the inbox, and so they live in fear of being “found out” or punished for what they forgot. This fear only compounds their feelings of guilt and stress, making them even less effective at managing the problem.
A full inbox showing weeks or months of old work constantly reminds the user how far he is from being “done.” Dealing with