The Hamster Revolution: How to Manage Your Email Before It Manages You

In 20 years of information industry end user computing research, I have not found a more useful toolkit to better manage knowledge work. This book, coupled with the training and consulting services offered by Cohesive Knowledge Solutions is a powerful behavior changing experience. I know, I’ve been there, done that and have left the hamster wheel for a better work/life balance.

Rating: 5 / 5
The Hamster Revolution: How to Manage Your Email Before It Manages You

I got the 3-hour long CD and now listened a third time. I’ve wanted off the treadmill to the extent possible. I started implementing the authors’ suggestions after my first pass, and then began to use their tools after the second pass. I’ve become a believer in the Hamster Revolution and now recognize this work as one of the truly great business books of our time. That’s why I deleted my first review - so I could increase the number of stars.

In my first go-around I immediately felt overly critical due to what I perceived as a self-serving forward by Ken Blanchard. I have nothing against Blanchard and recognize him as an outstanding thinker and corporate trainer; I just don’t like it when people writing a forward use it as an opportunity to toot their own horn. In this state of mind, I found the hamster character cutesy. The second time I identified strongly with the hamster. The dialogue made me feel that I’m the hamster. Further, the use of the hamster character turned out to be an ingenious technique because it allowed the authors to teach their lessons in story format. The more I applied the lessons, the more apparent it became that the authors, Mike Song, Vicki Halsey and Tim Burress have a fine 129-page masterpiece here.

The first thing I started doing was strengthening my subject lines and sculpting my messages. Anybody can do this once they understand the first simple lesson. Like the hamster, I’m now sending fewer emails. This result did not come just as a matter of receiving and following instructions. There is theory behind the lessons and it seems so simple due to the story presentation. The reader (listener in my case) is made to understand the problem first. The problem is information overload and we all face it.

Skipping straight to the last strategy, the authors provide a powerful tool called COTA. This is a system for organizing email folders that works because of the logic behind its simplicity. I feel that it’s a spoiler to tell what COTA stands for, but even so, COTA is not so simple that it can be used effectively without understanding the philosophical underpinning. This is the first tier of folders, and one can expect to have further tiers. Further, one should apply this tool to all one’s business records, physical and electronic. This includes records in file cabinets, records on company servers, records in employees’ My Documents and email folders. In the book, the hamster is advised that it will take about a day to reorganize his files using this tool. But the hamster could not completely do it all in one day. I think nobody can predict how long it will take to implement this tool.

The title of the book is inspired. The idea of “revolution” is that those of us using the design and principles will spread the word and create major change. One can imagine managers asking employees to join “the revolution.” Those of us using the techniques will be able to recognize each other fairly quickly from the subject headers.

Finally, I did not read this book. I listened to the CD. The reader is Oliver Wyman. He has an enormous portfolio of famous books in several genres and is extremely versatile. I wholeheartedly recommend the CD because it flows smoothly and is soothing to the listener. I’ve also ordered the book because the CD is abridged and I want to make sure not to miss out on anything. This is an enjoyable 3-hour CD set (3 CDs). But let’s be honest about something. This is about making work more satisfying. It’s about being successful at work. It’s about being more productive and therefore more competitive.

Rating: 5 / 5
The Hamster Revolution: How to Manage Your Email Before It Manages You

Getting overloaded with emails over the last 3-4 years. So decided to buy some books on the subject to improve. Bought 3 books from Amazon - Emails, Conquer Your Email Overload and Hamster Revolution. Find Hamster Revolution the best. I can see Hamster in me with over 500 emails in my in-box and having problems in relocating some of the infor later. This book is NOT about how to use Outlook. What I like is the story-telling method the authors used to bring across, otherwise a dry and technical subject, with interesting, lively and useful ideas. Strategy 1 is an eye opener for me. So simple and yet so useful ! Find it so enlightening and useful that I am thinking of asking the company to engage them for an in-house workshop ! Well done, guys !
Rating: 5 / 5
The Hamster Revolution: How to Manage Your Email Before It Manages You