Why information overload is good for me
Posted by Sri Subramanian (@whosissri) on August 24, 2011
Wikipedia defines knowledge worker as one who uses “research skills to define problems and to identify alternatives. Fueled by their expertise and insight, they work to solve those problems, in an effort to influence company decisions, priorities and strategies.” We can’t define these problems, if we don’t have information. Hence the term knowledge worker.
As a young grad student, I learned quickly that information came through books, and peer reviewed journals and articles, which I diligently read. Email was just chatter to get through the daily mill of little things, and the less time I spent on email, the better.
This has changed.
Today, a good bit of my information comes through informal conversations, email, blog posts, twitter, RSS feeds, and such. In order to keep up, I need to view these, not as getting in the way of work, but enabling work. I have learned to quickly glean through what is coming my way, to find my nuggets. I have also learned not to sweat what I miss.
If I do unto others, as I would like others to do unto me: my mantra is no longer “prune the email cc list, and don’t spam everyone”. Today’s mantra is “improve the email’s subject line, and send it to more people”.
Meg Bear said
Love this! I have a theory that knowledge sharing is the new pivotal competency.
-Meg
To cc:, or not to cc:, that is the question « David Haimes Oracle Intercompany Financials Blog said
[…] decided to write this post in response to a post on the Talented Apps blog, by Sri Subramanian discussing how we process lots of information from feeds, twitter and emails […]
David Haimes said
I disagree with this – my mantra is prune the cc: email is not an RSS feed.
I posted a response on my blog – http://davidhaimes.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/to-cc-or-not-to-cc-that-is-the-question/
Sri Subramanian said
Thanks, David. I do appreciate your point of view, and especially appreciate another post on this topic. I have posted a more detailed comment on your post.
Effortless email said
I am no longer sure the place you’re getting your info, but good topic.
I must spend some time learning more or figuring out more.
Thank you for fantastic info I was in search of this information for
my mission.
Sri Subramanian (@whosissri) said
Effortless email,
Thank you. The wikipedia page has change. However, the definition is referenced in many other places. Just search the web with the exact words for places you can cite, if needed.