Information Overload

Recently Andrew and I were mentioned in Stefan Stern’s column in the FT on our report looking at managers’ addiction to communications technologies.

Eleven million bits of information are thrown at our senses every second. The human mind is able to process forty bits of information at one time, and can focus on seven (plus or minus two) bits of information at one time. Clearly a lot passes us by—and the information that people are receiving but not processing causes many to suffer from information overload. People try to focus on the forty bits they can process, but they just can’t do it, and they may miss or ignore important things.

People can also suffer from stress. Say an efficient and effective person is promoted in an organisation, and as a result he has many more demands for information and tasks from people to respond to—he might start to fall behind schedule for his customers and clients. He starts to make mistakes, feels bad, and then imposes more stress on himself; it becomes a negative loop, and may lead to burnout. It could be the case that highly efficient people are harder on themselves and thus suffer more from information overload.

What’s the solution? Having the right filtering mechanisms for incoming information and demands is very important. Technology alone won’t do it for you; it really helps to have a good team around you. At any time there might be a thousand things competing for attention—people need to be able to ruthlessly prioritize and delegate, being diligent to structure their day in a way that works for them and stick to goals while remaining flexible to deal with urgent new tasks.

One needs to know what’s important and what’s not. Potentially relevant information shouldn’t be categorically dismissed, but if the information is interesting but not important for what you want to achieve, it shouldn’t be focused on. Other information may be boring but important for what you want to achieve. It’s important to have the right information when you need it, and be able to act upon the information decisively.