Our No IMs & Tweets Experiment

A little over 3 weeks ago we conducted an experiment to see how instant
messaging (IM) and Twitter posts affected company work flow and
communication.

Hypothosis:
IMs and personal tweets may be
negatively affecting our efficiency

Method:
Voluntarily
not using personal & work IM tools at workstations. Voluntarily not
accessing personal Twitter account(s) during work.

Length of
Experiment:
3 weeks, 2 days and counting

The following information about positive and negative effects was gathered during a brief company-wide discussion.

Positive
effects:

• Increased ‘in the zone’ time
• Less distractions without
  multiple conversations going on at once
• “I saved at least 1.5 hours a day”
• I
  learned to use the speaker phone
• Long questions were better answered face-to-face, than through IM
• Sending non-timely information by email rather than IM
  proved more effective, especially to groups
• Learned to discern the value of
  a question, versus interrupting someone or having to get up and ask
• Grouped non-timely questions into a list and then approached the individual to get everything taken care of at
  once
• Eliminating personal tweets saved time
• “Dave didn’t bug me” (and I gently weep)
• More
  organized, less frenzied

Negative effects:

• Verbal
  interruptions were more disruptive than IMs
• More stressful; no
  breaks in the work flow
• Physically checking to see if you could talk to
  someone was a waste of time
• Physically interrupting someone cued the
  instinct to make small talk and waste time (being polite)
• Short questions and information, like sending links or code, is better with IM
  than e-mail
• “Felt like I
  was in jail” (was not aware that anyone here had that experience for
  reference)
• Missed distractions as tool for inspiration; as something
  that cleared the mind and helped creativity
• IMs were more effective than
  email for sending code snippets and links
• Waiting on an email to answer questions or requests was less effective than IMs
• Felt more
  comfortable because inappropriate private IM conversations weren’t
  taking place

Question:
When asked if you have been
more or less efficient in your work during this experiment:
– 11 staff
members say they have been more efficient during the experiment
– 2 staff
members say they have been less efficient during the experiment

Observations:
– Most
notable increases in productivity came from management positions
– ‘Creatives’
were affected negatively more than non-creative staff. Some complained
of stress without distractions

Conclusion:
– Instituting beta
test of Campfire IM tool by 37 Signals
– Continue to not utilize
personal IM accounts and personal twitter accounts
– Monitor our usage,
share our experience and adjust accordingly