Scoble's E-Mail Crisis: Who Can Solve Information Overload?

You may be familiar with some of these symptoms of information overload:

• Your voice-mail message waiting indicator has been glowing red for 47 days;
• Your E-mail inbox is so full you can't get through your messages;
• When someone asks 'Did you get my e-mail?' it feels the same as when your spouse says 'Did you forget our anniversary?'
• You give your cell-phone number to a select few as a way to prioritize calls;
• You have a secret e-mail address you give to a select few to prioritize e-mails;
• The whole message thing feels out of control;
• Once in a while you declare info-bankruptcy and delete all stored messages to start fresh;

I am sure that Robert Scoble is not alone when he confesses he is close to declaring e-mail backruptcy:

I’m missing lots of appointments and screwing people. Not good at all. I’m gonna take a couple of days off and get a handle on it.

Anyone have any productivity tips? Especially for dealing with 1,537 e-mails? (I have them all triaged in separate folders). The pain of it is I have other stuff I need to get done.

I don't think these are user-created problems as much as they are systemic problems due to the nature of work, the global economy, increased demands on employees, and the limitations of communications tools.

So here is an open challenge: Can an e-mail system, handheld device, BlackBerry, telephone, handset, telecom network or software system solve these problems of information overload?

For many people this is:

• An important problem
• A frequent problem
• A problem they can't fully solve with today's tools

Those are the key ingredients for a potentially lucrative market-disruptive product or service. But to be effective the solution must be:

• Dead-easy to use (No big training burden)
• Works the way people work (Doesn't require a change in behavior)
• Integrates with current systems, such as MS Outlook, standard voice-mail, etc.

The service that comes closest to my understanding of the problem is the Relevance Engine from Iotum, a software startup founded by Alec Saunders, previously with Microsoft.

Another candidate with emphasis on collaboration networks is Tello, a startup backed by Craig McCaw, Intel Capital, John Sculley, Jeff Pulver and others, but this seems like a more complex approach.

**Other Views **
43 Folders is an efficiency blog that has some tips for dealing with e-mail.

NY Times columnist David Pogue piqued my interest with a post about BlackBerry users spending more time with family back in the summer.

Iotum's blog looks at the issues behind relevance.

E-mail dashboard offers some productivity tips for dealing with e-mail overload.