Email (and Brain) Overload

As someone who has to deal with an onslaught of emails every single day, I can’t wait for the solution to the overload problem that the information giants Microsoft, Intel, Google, and IBM are joining forces to find, according to the New York Times article Creators of E-Mail Monster Now Try to Tame It. They need to enlist David Allen, the Getting Things Done guru, and folks like Chris Brogan, who has apparently managed to tame his Inbox.

The problem is simple: more information means more work. Even just organizing it takes a lot of time. I don’t know about other employers, but mine seems to be a bit oblivious to the problem. I haven’t heard many people complain about it, so either everyone is doing a heck of a job keeping track of everything, or they pretend they can :). Hard to tell. I’m afraid if I complain I’ll come off as whining or incompetent, but I think at this point I should care less about that (since I don’t have much of a future here anyway) and I’ll start asking my coworkers how they’re dealing with it. At least just out of curiosity. It bothers me less that no one has a solution yet, as it does that no one says we have a problem and I can’t believe I’m the only one that does.

At any rate, I’m glad I checked my email these two days I was off because there was no way I could have faced roughly 100 emails on Monday. I have resisted the temptation and haven’t responded to any, but at least I know what to expect and filed away those I wanted to keep. And I’m glad I don’t have a Blackberry; or, more exactly a Crackberry . One less work-related addiction. I really wish I could have three or four days off from regular work, so that I could organize my stuff. I kept hoping that would happen but now I know it never will in this job.

Ok, I should stop blogging about work on a Saturday night .