Dealing with Information Overload in Project Management

Nearly every professionally-run organization has realized the worth of establishing an efficient project management system. Among the many techniques that are used to enhance the productivity of project management tools, guarding against an overload of information gains prominence. This basically means developing useful project management utilities to ensure that everyone on-board with the organization’s project management platform is able to strategize the flow of information. This includes:

• improving the relevancy of information
• controlling the volume of information

Using RSS: For this purpose, many project managers endorse the use of RSS feeds and RSS newsreaders. It is one of the simplest ways of systematically keeping yourself abreast with the latest developments in a field of particular interest. RSS feeds provide you an opportunity to read the latest content from blogs, podcasts, and online reviews or just browsing through the latest global trends.

Why Blogs? The one single-largest factor that makes blogs a valuable resource for seeking selective and yet comprehensive information is that it combines many inputs related to a single topic — personal opinions, market judgments, feedbacks regarding compatibility with corporate policies, and suggested advantages from many reliable sources.

Using Online Networking: A similarly-configured information source is a networking club that could be regional, local, or even international. However, here the information is streamed in a more interactive way and the discussion and viewpoints are presented with more liberty. Many times, the interactive sessions are joined by leading industry experts and gaining an insight into their expertise is priceless.

Create Disposable Email Addresses

One of the biggest nuisances in terms of unwanted information is the email inbox. Sometimes, it becomes necessary to use the email for delivering urgent messages or for professional communication. Again, many times project managers are asked to seek registrations and participate in various online forums that need web-based registration. This means that your email address could be accessed by spammers. This in turns makes you susceptible to being flooded with superfluous information.

The solution lies in not using your real email address when you are filling-out online forms. There are many service vendors and even project management software packages that offer a few disposable email addresses that can be used for such purposes.

Creating a Personalized Information Management System

There are many other communication tools that are used in an establishment and an overflow of information is often an issue with them. However, you could create your system of filtering all the data that comes through to help you select and work upon the appropriate information only.

Examples:

• Many project management software applications offer the facility of having pop-up reminders to highlight important incoming messages.
• Those using Outlook Express — using filters in Outlook to automatically file your mail into specific folders and to delete spam/junk mail.

Most teams involved with project management feel overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of information that is imposed upon them each day. The sensible solution lies in creating an individual system that suits your sensibilities and strategic preferences rather than the standard recommend tips that are preached. The emphasis should be on creating a system that doesn't necessarily just reduce the amount of information delivered to you, but is effective enough to sort-out and highlight what is suited to your profile and professional requirements.