This website covers knowledge management, personal effectiveness, theory of constraints, amongst other topics. Opinions expressed here are strictly those of the owner, Jack Vinson, and those of the commenters.

Digitus floodus - recommendations

What would you recommend for tips on dealing with the flood of digital information?  That's the question from Michael Sampson in his Seven Things:

One of my friends dropped me an email yesterday asking:

If you had a top 7 tips list for managing the flood of digital information, what would it be?

He lists six things (below) and asks for a seventh.  I like the question, particularly in this end-of-year period of looking forward and looking backward.  What would I recommend for dealing with the flood of digital information?

My addition has to be "create a process" and stick to it.  Evaluate your priorities in life, look at your time, and make a decision about how much time to devote to the various information sources.  And with all personal effectiveness suggestions, do it for a while and check that it is actually working for you.  And part of that process: it is okay to throw out unread newspapers, ignore unread mailing list mail, ignore blog postings, etc...  Make it okay to do what you need to do.

This is Michael's starting point.  I particularly appreciate his suggestion of a personal knowledge management system.  And to his commenter: there isn't a single technological answer.

  1. Write a blog.
  2. Don't live in an email client.
  3. Look for the commonalities.
  4. Read more deep stuff.
  5. Get to know the key people who flood you with digital information.
  6. Build a personal knowledge management system.

Knowledge management is hard?

Required reading