How I Work: Bill Gates

April 5th, 2006 · No Comments

“No, not “fueled by the blood of those he has devoured.”" as VelleyWag puts it. Hmm. Bill Gates, the beast, the dark lord, the devourer.

Nah. Can’t picture it somehow. Though I guess this guy would kick a puppy if it was in the way of something he really wanted. That’s mildly evil, right? No?

Billy The Devourer

Anyway, tips from the big guy in IT, Billy the devourer:

I’m not big on to-do lists. Instead, I use e-mail and desktop folders and my online calendar.

Staying focused is one issue; that’s the problem of information overload. The other problem is information underload. Being flooded with information doesn’t mean we have the right information or that we’re in touch with the right people.

Think Week. In May, I’ll go off for a week and read 100 or more papers from Microsoft employees that examine issues related to the company and the future of technology.

Paper is no longer a big part of my day. I get 90% of my news online, and when I go to a meeting and want to jot things down, I bring my Tablet PC. It’s fully synchronized with my office machine so I have all the files I need. It also has a note-taking piece of software called OneNote, so all my notes are in digital form.

At Microsoft, e-mail is the medium of choice, more than phone calls, documents, blogs, bulletin boards, or even meetings (voicemails and faxes are actually integrated into our e-mail in-boxes).

I get about 100 e-mails a day. We apply filtering to keep it to that levelâ€”e-mail comes straight to me from anyone I’ve ever corresponded with, anyone from Microsoft, Intel, HP, and all the other partner companies, and anyone I know. And I always see a write-up from my assistant of any other e-mail, from companies that aren’t on my permission list or individuals I don’t know. That way I know what people are praising us for, what they are complaining about, and what they are asking. — CNN

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