A few days after did a call-in radio show on Wisconsin Public Radio with Larry Meiller, I got an email from someone who had heard the show and was interested in having me speak to her group. By the time I had a chance to email her back, I received this “away” message from her:
“Dear All,
In an effort to actually get work done, I’m testing a new email policy. I’m checking and responding to email only twice a day at 11am and 5pm CST. If you need a response before one of these two times, for anything urgent, please call me on my cell phone.
Thanks for understanding this move to greater effectiveness and efficiency.”
I didn’t need a response right away, and I was so pleased to see she had taken some of the advice I’ve been giving.
How do you manage your interruptions when you’re trying to get things done?
I was viewing Nick Bowman’s blog and saw that he has your blog on recommended sites.
I remembered an article discussing this very idea. Because the article is a few years old, you may already be aware of some companies “new” policies. U.S. Cellular tried to have no email Fridays. (article at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91724075).
I think it’s wonderful that people are recognizing that constant connection may not produce higher multi-tasking functions. I am pleased to see that companies are taking a pro-active approach to increase productivity and protecting people’s cognitive functions.
Thanks for your comments, and thanks for the link to an interesting article. I talk about company policies for email-less periods in “Conquer CyberOverload.” I mainly do that in the context of reducing interruptions so people can focus on one thing at a time and improve their productivity and creativity. But I’m also interested in the interpersonal aspect of these policies. In one of my keynote presentations (“Facebook vs. Face Time”), I talk about the trade-offs that occur when we opt more and more for the convenience of electronic communication and lose the richness of face-to-face interactions