Urlocker On Disruption

BlackBerry Jam: Solving the Family 'Issue'

The Wall Street Journal looks at the strange impact BlackBerry use (or perhaps over-use) is having on families:

"The household tension comes as gadgets like BlackBerrys and Treos -- once primarily tools for investment bankers and lawyers -- have entered the pantheon of devices, including the TV, the personal computer and the cellphone, that have forcefully inserted themselves into the American home...

"Some mental-health professionals report that the intrusion of mobile email gadgets and wireless technology into family life is a growing topic of discussion in therapy."

My sense is that the increasing demands of a 24/7 workload will make this issue more prominent for many organizations. It could become a dominant management and workplace issue in the next few years.

And it's not just about BlackBerries, but all forms of instant-information, always-connected systems, including Instant Messaging, blogs, the web, cell phones, etc. which have important side-effects in how we work, how we learn and how we communicate. The organizations that master these skills and tools effectively will prosper. We can see signs of this already in organizations like Bloomberg or Wal-Mart, where management of instant information systems has created a new kind of organization. The organizations that don't master these systems will suffer from burnt-out employees, missed opportunities and, ultimately, disruption.

The Billable Hour shows this humorous example of the side-effects of ineffective BlackBerry use.

On the personal management side, here are some tips from the experts and from my own experience as a sometime over-user of wireless information devices:

• Lock away your wireless devices at a set time to signal the end of each work day;
• Don't hide your use of the device;
• Measure how much of your after-hours instant information is actually crucial and urgent time-sensitive and how much is trivial;
• Never signal to people that they are less important than your device by sneaking a quick glance when you shouldn't;
• Try going two weeks without the device. If the world ends as a result, this would be a terrible tragedy.  If not, you may be on a path to controlling the device rather than it controlling you.

Interested in writing a guest-column on disruption? Contact The Disruption Group here.

**Other Sources **
KidsHealth.org lists these psychological signs of addiction: Use as a way to forget problems or relax; withdrawal from or keeping secrets from family; failed attempts to stop using; changes in relationships; loss of interest in other activities.

Washington Post reported on BlackBerry addiction and side-effects including sore thumbs and a feeling of addiction.

Military OneSource lists six surefire symptoms, including: ignoring others to check e-mail, bringing technology to bed at night, and feeling anxious.

NPR has a broadcast on the subject.

Still addicted and driving dangerously? ILane has a voice-controlled email and communications systems for in-car use. Their hands-free, eyes-free car email system is in late stages of development and works with BlackBerry and other devices.

Updated: How to Solve Information Overload

The New York Times has an interesting article today about a strange phenomena related to information overload and phone tag. People are using new anonymous telephone number services like Jangl  and PrivatePhone.com to retain privacy on their cell phones.

It’s a funny story that explores dating trends in New York, but it also demonstrates that people are using these services because they are trying to solve a growing problem of filtering out unwanted callers.  Clearly to these people, this is:

• A frequent problem
• An important problem
• A problem they can't solve adequately today with current tools, including these new services

Those are the classic identifiers of a potentially great disruptive business opportunity.

The problem these consumers are addressing is related to information overload and phone-tag.  Simply put: 'How do I receive the calls I want and filter out the calls I don't want in an easy way?'

I think this is similar to an important business problem that is growing.  Notice how some business people hand out their cell number to top clients or VIPs.

Or how voice-mail (and in some cases e-mail) have become ineffective ways to communicate because of too many low-priority messages and spam. The problem remains for business people: How do I filter out unwanted communications while retaining the important calls, emails and IMs? 

Is there a solution to this problem?

I think Iotum comes the closest to solving this important problem with their relevance engine, which hooks into customers' contact lists and calendars (such as MS Outlook) to determine the priority and handling of calls. 

Is this a big market opportunity? Typically in disruptive innovations, it is hard to be accurate. And often the opportunities look small or uncertain in the early days.

While we can't prove the size of the market, the FCC tells us that 44% of residential phone customers in California have unlisted numbers: a clear signal that people are trying to solve the problem themselves, but inadequately (no prioritization and filters out too much). And we can all attest to the rise in unwanted calls and emails.

**Update: Spam expands**

The New York Times reports on how spam has doubled recently and explores the seemingly losing battle against spam.

Freedom to Tinker reports that spam is invading other formats including blog comments, with up to 800 fake comments sent daily to that blog.

Nicholas Carr says he's given up on the battle, but he admits spam is an interesting example of the new economics of abundance.

Amit Agarwal at Digital Inspiration says a simple filter rule in Gmail will win back your freedom from spam.

**Other Sources **
Iotum was named one of the 'fierce 15' innovative telecom companies. Iotum's CEO, Alec Saunders also has a blog on telecom issues.

VoIP expert Jeff Pulver says this problem is well-handled by VoIP technology and that more 'disposable phone number' services should come out in 2007. At the bottom of the comments section there are some details on how VoIP technology could reduce spam calls as well.

Paul Kedrosky has staggering stats on the rise of spam emails from Russian scam artists.

 

WSJ on Information Overload: Who has the cure?

Jared Sandberg of the Wall Street Journal's Cubicle Culture writes about the problems caused by information overload, especially in e-mail.

"We've reached the too-much-information age, but we really haven't reached the communication age.

"If Bill Gates invented the telephone and Alexander Graham Bell invented email," notes Dennis Fluegel, a retired senior project manager, "we would all be saying, 'You should get one of these telephones, you can actually talk to someone, hear what they are saying, and you don't have to use a keyboard!' "

Solving the next, growing problem is disruptive.

The company that helps solve the growing problem of filtering and prioritizing incoming messages (whether e-mail, phones or RSS feeds) will  have a potential goldmine if the solution is:

• Easy to use
• Works the way people work
• Builds on the tools people use

**Other Views**
Are 24/7-type information technologies addictive? In a forthcoming study, Rutgers University says yes, and employers may risk legal liability for encouraging addiction among staff.

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.

Survey Results: 32% Say BlackBerry Increases Work Time

At the risk of going into excessive detail, here are the actual results of what people said in an informal email survey over the weekend on BlackBerry and other 24/7 information tools:

• 32% said such tools reduced family time;
• 14% said the effect was neutral;
• 12% said such tools increased family time.

I don't consider the survey to be a rigorous study for several reasons: Small sample size (50), selection bias, self-selection bias and my own unscientific approach.  But I think the results can be instructive in understanding some of the management issues that emerge from such 24/7 information tools, especially in looking at what people did (as opposed to what they said) and in reading the detailed comments, posted yesterday.

Other findings:

• Many of the respondents, including those who said BlackBerry added to work time, emphasised the increased flexibility in work schedule that such tools enable.14% referred to flexibility specifically, while 6% also referred (using neutral language) to the blurring between work and family time;
• 10% used strong negative language to describe the effects on family time or to describe a feeling of enslavement by such tools, including some people who had said they had net positive feelings about using BlackBerry;
• 6% referred to increased efficiency, saying BlackBerry increased work time and family time.
• 4% referred to the positive side effects of reduced stress by being connected, and
• 4% referred to BlackBerry as an enabler of vacations and family time (in some cases with  details of extensive holidays deemed impossible without BlackBerry, or with examples from a busy work schedule.)

BlackBerry Users Say They Have More Family Time* (in a weekend email)

*There's an important distinction between what people say and what they do. So I was a bit surprised to see that it looked like New York Times columnist David Pogue fell for a somewhat bogus survey of BlackBerry users.

David is a sharp observer, so I think he let this one slip by on purpose. Sometimes journalists pass along information even when it seems dodgy. And I did note rising scepticism as his post progressed on wireless email users. Among the findings:

• 40% said BlackBerry increases their available family time;
• 48% said it left them with about the same amount of time;
• 12% said it decreased family time.

My take is that 88% of the people were either lying to the survey-takers or lying to themselves and family. (Personal bias and confession: I am a long-term BlackBerry user; I think the tool is indispensibe for me; And I struggle mightily with the work/family balance.)

I was similarly shocked at Wireless Enterprise Symposium, the annual Blackberry technology conference last month, when a group of market researchers identified the work/family balance issue as one of the biggest challenges for BlackBerry users, but the panel basically said how to manage this issue was a personal one. Employers, managers, etc. were off the hook.

So galling is the lie of modern technology, that I felt compelled to do my own survey of BlackBerry users this past weekend, which included Fathers' day.  (Like I said, I struggle with balance.) I sent a brief email to 50 people with the subject 'Quick work question,'  asking whether BlackBerry and similar tools freed up or cut into family time.

Never mind for now what people said for now (we'll discuss that later); Look at what they did:

• 32% responded on the weekend;
• More than 20% replied within two hours;
• 6% replied while on a holiday or at vacation spots.
• 14% replied Monday morning.

Maybe the people I know are especially kind in offering the favor of a quick reply. But I think their actions get at an important issue: Devices like BlackBerry, blogs, the web, etc. are 24/7 business tools and we are increasingly in a work world that requires (or makes people feel it requires) instantaneous information. Feeding the beast is a 24/7 job.

Ten years ago, fewer people worked in that kind of world: Some investment professionals, high-flyinge executives and emergency-room doctors, perhaps.  Today many more sectors are operating this way. That's why BlackBerry sales are soaring.

To me, this trend towards instantaneous information represents one of the major management challenges ahead as more 24/7 tools emerge, like blogs.

Organizations that are increasingly turning to 24/7 tools and remaking themselves into more interactive, responsive organizations need to understand how the role of the manager and the role of the corporation is changing. It's not about whether 24/7 business or wireless email is good or bad.  It just is.

But in my opinion, the organizations that make optimal use of these tools will thrive.  The organizations that fail to properly use these tools will lag.  By making use of the tools, I am not just referring to work/family balance. Consider how each of these apparently personal issues can be moved from the personal to the organizational level:

• Filtering and reducing spam;
• Prioritizing information and actions;
• Dealing with conflicting information;
• Identifying experts quickly;
• Creating 'noise' free opportunities for employees and managers to think;

One example: When I joined a multinational corporation in 2001, I was shocked to observe that internal communications by email were crippled because people were drowning in internally-generated-spam. And I don't mean 'garage sale' announcements, etc. Employees received dozens and in some cases hundreds of automated emails every day depending on what teams they worked in or what their interests and responsibilities were.  As a result, if you wanted to communicate to other employees, you couldn't email them because nobody could keep up with their inboxes.  (Add to that, the harassing announcements from the IT department for people to clean out their inboxes because of storage costs.) To me, this is an organizational problem, not a personal issue.

**Other views**
In an email, technology Strategist Pip Coburn, who is undoubtedly a more balanced person than me, points out that multiple outcomes are possible:

"These technologies generate a wide variety of results including being with one's family more AND simultaneously being available to work as and when one wishes. Undoubtedly there are many people unable to balance these options in a way that generates a better life. It may be "you" and it may be that you see it in someone else. If the goal in life is the pursuit of happiness these are tools that can contribute but you better watch out or just the opposite result will be quickly achieved."

WSJ technology columnist Walt Mossberg delivered a compelling speech last week in which he identified the evolution of 24/7 information as the major societal change.

In 10 years, and we won’t talk about “going on the Internet” or “going online”. The Internet will become 24/7 for everyone. We should begin thinking about the Internet like the electrical grid. You can plug a huge number of things into the grid, but we don’t talk about being “on the electrical grid”.

Comedian Rick Mercer has a great satirical video on BlackBerry culture, highlighting the strangely compelling nature of the phenom.

If you like the BlackBerry helmet ad, you may enjoy the other video archives at Mercer's site.

**Late Addition**

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has a research report on family stress caused by cellphones and pagers. Also summarized on MedicineNet.

**Survey comments**

I thank everyone for their responses.  Many said they appreciated the flexibility of BlackBerry and several commented on a blurring of lines between work and family time. (Detailed statistical results were posted here.)  I especially thank those who enjoyed their weekend. Here are some comments from among the survey-respondents:

• (From the first to reply:) "More time working AND more time with my family (although not really paying attention to them - like now.) Also I have my first BB accident the other day - I rear-ended a car (at ~4 mph) while driving and typing!"
• "Blackberry is my only 24/7 tool. It doesn't allow more time with family. It is addictive. It changes your ability to focus because it has an interrupt function and opearates in an instant gratification mode. It goes with me on holidays and interferes...All that said, at my level (senior executive), I think it is one of the best productivity enhancer I have seen."
• "If I add it up I probably spend more time than ever with work-related matters because of the computer and Internet (I'm competitive).  It's as if my computer has now become my 'watch'."
• "I probably work the same but it's fragmented."
• "Hard to say I am working less, but it does allow me to keep up on work without extracting myself from the family activity (physically anyway).
• "BB was a constant intrusion - I took it with me when I went on my honeymoon and found that it keeps business in the background -- my mind was never very far from business."
• "I would think the amount of time (spouse) uses his blackberry and mobile means less time spent with family, but I look forward to a copy of his answers. 'Vacations' are now always combined with work, because of the blackberry and the phone (not necessarily the web).
• "BB reduces the barrier to people staying connected and therefore there is a pressure to stay connected - therefore you are with family but... On-line commerce can be automated and therefore reduces the need for a person to be permanently connected and this is good."
• "We were at a dinner party last night and a friend commented that her husband spends more time with a Blackberry (first thing in the am and upon arrival from work) that it's become unnerving."
• I think it blurs the lines between the two... I think you probably get to do more of both work and family life because you use the available time in the day more efficiently."
• "The unasked question is what does the family think? The user thinks it is great to spend more time with family. But my family, at least, sees it differently. I asked them and they told me that when I am with them I am "always looking at my phone... always doing email... never fully there... never stop working. This is not good."
• "Blackberry has added a level of connectivity which has made me more effective, hence less stressed. I suppose that my increased effectiveness has resulted in more family time."
• "Being connected by cell and Blackberry is an enabler for down-time. I find I can get away because I still have a wireless umbilical... I am writing this as I sit in my cottage."