The Hamster Revolution

Written in parable form, The Hamster Revolution tells the story of Harold, an HR Director, who has fallen victim to the dreaded info-glut and finds himself paralyzed by the deluge of electronic data and email he must fight daily. In a Kafkaesque twist, after much repetitive but fruitless exertion, he actually turns into a hamster running on a wheel (though he’s too busy to even notice). Happily, Harold meets an info coach who recognizes his ailment and teaches him a few powerful lessons about managing email, starting with developing higher quality messages that get rid of unnecessary details. The info coach introduces Harold to the COTA system, which shows him an innovative way of storing all email and electronic media into four main categories: Clients, Output, Teams, Administrative. Based on feedback and input from 2,000 Capital One employees who attended the authors’ seminar, The Hamster Revolution offers an appealing approach to an increasingly common and difficult problem.