Adrian Kimpton of Sable&Hawkes writes:
As people are being increasingly bombarded with more information than they can handle and suffering the effects of information overload, we need to discover the art of less. Get to the point; what you leave out is as important as what you put in.
Technological advances have made it easier to gather and distribute information through a greater array of channels. The natural selection processes that would have kept all but the most important information from being distributed have gone and we are not replacing them with our own controls.
Not only has the volume of information distributed gone up, but also we have become lazy about the quality of what we send. We spend insufficient time processing and preparing raw information to ensure that it is effective communication. David Shenk, author of a 1997 book on the subject, called the abundance of low quality information that we mistake for communication (or knowledge) “data smog”. The smog stops us seeing what is important.
Just because the world has made it easier for us all to become experts and to publish doesn’t mean that we are and that we should. The skill lies in the ability to pare down to the core of what the audience needs, to add by taking away. Making the opaque clear and the complex easy to understand requires control.
Simplicity is where genius lies.
Some definitions:
Data: raw facts and figures.
Information: data organised into a meaningful context.
Knowledge: information that has been understood and applied.
Information overload: having more information than you can process effectively.
Information Fatigue Syndrome: the effects of information overload, including the inability to make decisions or take action.
Data smog/Dataglut/Infobog: the overabundance of low quality information that pollutes daily life.
Non-information: poor quality data that lacks relevance and usefulness.
Developing the art of doing less: The onus on those with something to communicate, or those who communicate on the behalf of others, is to apply the skills required to get the message across effectively, simply and succinctly.
Here are some suggestions for how to reduce the quantity and improve the quality of your communication at a macro and micro level:
- Tailor for different audiences
Provide information specific to audience needs and interests. Give your audience “permission not to know” the other stuff. - Allow information to be “pulled”
You don’t have to “push” all information, all of the time, by sending it direct in all its detail to everyone. Let people know where it is available if they want it. Ask “why would someone want to receive this?” rather than “why not?” - Prioritise
Don’t send the less important information. When you have decided what to send, put the most important points first. Not everything is “crucial” and “essential”. - Be succinct
Add by taking away. - Organise
It is more important to know where and how to find what you need to know than to have everything provided on a plate. - Remove waste
Carry out an audit to review your communication channels, to find duplication and irrelevance. Pick your key channels and focus on making them work hard for you rather than being on every network and using every portal you can find. - Make links
Integrate messages and initiatives to create a single whole that can be easily digested and efficiently applied in real life. - Tell the truth
If you don’t know, or you don’t know yet, say you don’t know. This takes less time, energy and words than inventing something that probably doesn’t answer the question and may well have to be re-written at a later date.
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