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Managing Information Overload

Managing Information Overload. February 20, 2008 http://lsntap.org/tips101. Is this your inbox?. Email = Communication. Period. Overview of Session. Take Control of Your Inbox Adopt Strong Email Practices Demote Email from Emperor to Messenger (Change its function in your life)

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Managing Information Overload

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  1. Managing InformationOverload February 20, 2008 http://lsntap.org/tips101

  2. Is this your inbox? Email = Communication. Period.

  3. Overview of Session • Take Control of Your Inbox • Adopt Strong Email Practices • Demote Email from Emperor to Messenger (Change its function in your life) • Organize Your Online Experience

  4. Take Control of Your Inbox • 50% of email can be deleted or filed • 30% can be delegated or completed in less than 2 minutes • 20% can be calendared to complete later

  5. Take Control of Your Inbox • Schedule uninterrupted time • Decide your email protocol • Process one item at a time and Reduce to Zero. (4 Ds) • Delete • Do • Delegate • Defer for action

  6. Overview of Session Step 1: Take Control of Your Inbox • Create a filing system • Create labels (Gmail) or tags (Outlook 2007) • Create filters?

  7. Tools to Help You • A Filing System (or Labels, if Gmail) • Group emails by category of your workflow • Rules (aka Filters) • i.e., Color code your boss. Filter by subject, recipient, or sender. • Flag or Star • Create an easy To-Do or deprioritize emails

  8. Gabe’s Former Life General file headers. No emails filed within them. Sub-labels catch most of my work. Tip: Naming matters. Periods show up before letters a- or aa- to help organize by your priority not naming Daily practice: Read and file from inbox

  9. About Files • Files help you refine a search • Files help you organize visually a lot of information • Files are useful for easy retrieval

  10. How To Create File Folders • Right-Click in most applications. • For Gmail, create Labels: locate Settings in upper R. Click Labels Tab.

  11. Color Code Your Email:Use Rules Visually organize incoming messages by sender

  12. Create Rules or Filters • Outlook: Tools | Organize (or Rules & Alerts) • See Outlook audio tutorial: http://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?AssetID=RC011156011033&pid=CH062556091033&ofcresset=1 • Read how for Outlook: http://www.ehow.com/how_2054490_create-rule-outlook.html • Gmail: Settings | Filters

  13. About Filters & Rules • Rules can change the color of an email in your inbox for easy visual reference. • Rules can label or file email from certain senders – i.e., put all the email from your housing listserv into a folder automatically (or label it, in Gmail).

  14. Flag It! Prioritize email Create the “new inbox” – yourTo Do list Right-click to flag, or star in Gmail Sort by Flags for To Do list and by Stars in Gmail

  15. Archiving Email • Manual, automatic, or unnecessary depending on your email client • Function allows you to search email but retain it • Outlook Tutorial: http://office.microsoft.com/training/Training.aspx?AssetID=RP102386761033&pid=CR100654581033

  16. Step 2: Adopt Strong Email Practices • Timely response • Take action: • Delete, Do, Delegate, Defer • Do’s & Don’ts

  17. Timely Response • What is your email protocol? • Respond within a day? • Respond within a half day? • Respond within 2 hours? • Respond within an hour? • Respond even on the “Defers” • “Thanks for your email. I won’t be able to get to this until XX, and will email you then.”

  18. Do’s • Use a strong subject line • Use email to reward, emote or acknowledge positive things. • Communicate information, request action, facilitate unsophisticated problem-solving • Follow up on heavy problem-solving

  19. Don’ts • Do not use email to track attachments and documents as a filing system • Do not use email to manage projects, timelines, or histories • Do not use email to schedule meetings • Do not use email to do heavy problem solving or brainstorming • Do not use email to ask quick questions

  20. Step 3: Reduce what you rely on your email to do for you Using new tools!

  21. Overview of Session Step 3: Reduce what you use email to do • IM for quick check in • Project Management tools for deadlines and files • Wikis for institutional knowledge • Online schedulers & calendars

  22. Instant Messaging • I’m running 5 minutes late on another call. Call you when off. • What time is our meeting at again? • Here is the login number I forgot to send • I am about to send out an email to the Advisory Board, do you have anything to add… (then cut and paste text for them to edit). • Here is the training description I was going to post? Thoughts?

  23. Instant Messaging for Quick Communication or Check In

  24. Jabber: Instant Messaging • Jabber (www.jabber.org) -- a customizable open source IM (instant messaging) protocol with many clients: • Hugh uses Exodus (http://exodus.jabberstudio.org/) • Gabe uses PSI (http://psi-im.org/)

  25. Meetings and Phones • Meet-o-Matic (www.meet-o-matic.com) • MeetingWizard (www.meetingwizard.com) • Free Conference.Com (www.freeconference.com) • GotVoice (www.gotvoice.com) • Voicemail transferred to your email

  26. Web Conferencing • www.legalmeetings.org • www.teamviewer.com • www.crossloop.com Use for coordination and heavy problem solving or one-on-one in-depth meetings

  27. We all use Case Management Systems for cases, so… • While we have technology systems that help us receive and track cases, few programs use systems that help staff manage and coordinate on projects or collaborative efforts. Instead, most of us rely on ad hoc management systems and email.

  28. Project Management in Action: PTLA • Pine Tree Legal Assistance wanted Gwen Daniels’ help in developing an online intake form for their Volunteer Lawyers Project. • They used PM tools to organize their goals, milestones, and drafts. They assigned tasks to all persons and tracked them online.

  29. Project Management in Action: NTAP • Problem: 7 staff and contractors, 6 LSC funded grants with specific milestones, 157 emails a day in my inbox, 1 aging brain. • Solution: Project Management (PM) software helped us: assign tasks and deadlines, brainstorm ideas across timezones, reduce email clutter, and have one central repository for all files and thoughts about a project.

  30. Project Management in Action: NTAP • Example: Cyber Piracy project Becky is responsible for creating training materials. Gabe is responsible for finalizing Cyber Piracy research -- the raw data of which is in various versions. Pro bono lawyers are responsible for creating drafts of trademark material. Eva needs to review them. PM tools help us organize this effort. What’s better? We receive notice via email of all uploads, revisions, drafts, or messages.

  31. Example in Action:ILAO’s Project Server • The Problem: We needed a way to manage internal software development projects that use staff and outside developers • The Solution: Set up a project server instance that allows us to create tasks for each phase of development and link those tasks together, assign and allocate resources, manage costs

  32. Resources • Training Material on Wikis & Proj Mgmt www.lsntap.org/coll105 • Wikis: http://www.lsntap.org/bookshelf?tid=10 • Project Management: http://www.lsntap.org/bookshelf?tid=179

  33. Other Tips • Manage your bookmarks • Manage your news • Open what you need every day

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