Thinking: Fast and Slow - On Notifications

In his pathbreaking book, Thinking: Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahnemann (and his collaborator Amos Tversky) introduce the concept of System 1 and System 2 thinking. Reacting almost automatically and reflexively to a speeding car as we step off the curb or instantly detecting facial cues of an angry boss at a daily status meeting is something our brains are tremendously good at. This automatic, involuntary mode of thinking evolved to provide Homo sapiens with the ability to survive the brutal, hunter-prey environment of the past. This is System 1 thinking. 

This is in stark contrast with the skill required in slowing down and analytically working through a calculus problem or writing an Excel macro to derive insights from data. This is System 2 thinking. 

While I absolutely urge you to read that book, the key insight I’m using as a jumping-off point for this post is the fact that System 1 thinking is highly energy-efficient and your brain can do it day in day out, keeping you out of danger and helping you navigate a large number of seemingly complex situations without breaking a sweat. We often simply use the term “intuition” to describe this and unfortunately, since we don’t live in environments where hunting deer and detecting the presence of sabre-toothed cats from a gentle rustle in the bushes are the most critical skills we need, System 1 thinking fails us quite regularly in the modern world. We essentially have hunter-gatherer brains navigating a digital world. 

The modern workplace is almost entirely a System 2 thinking enterprise. The category of problems we solve in a large company all require analytical thinking, and as Kahnemann points out, it’s pretty expensive. We don’t have unlimited System 2 thinking capacity, and this insight has proven valuable in many situations. For instance, one is far more likely to eat unhealthy snacks after 2 hours of intense coding or excel-jockeying because once you are mentally tired, System 1 thinking takes control and demands that you obey your evolutionary instincts and eat as much salt, sugar and fat as possible. Restraint and mindfulness come from System 2 thinking, which when you are mentally exhausted, is very difficult to marshal.  

And that brings me to an oft-under-appreciated drainer of System 2 thinking energy in the workplace is Email and Teams notifications. I wake up every day to see at least 100 unread emails and 200 unread notifications on MS Teams. A sizeable chunk of these emails is either system generated or ones where I’m in Cc. The default setting on Teams keeps notifications on for the channels and groups I get added to. I try and sometimes get a couple of hours of work done before I check unread notifications in the morning to try and maximize the scarce System 2 thinking resources I have but then I end up missing important messages that might actually need immediate attention. 

My very modest proposal is thus: Workplaces must pay high-priority attention to notification design across the board. Every single notification is draining System 2 thinking capacity from employees, and I think designers of enterprise processes and IT systems (and cough cough, @microsoft) must design defaults that do not notify and give users more intelligent controls over what they believe is important and what isn’t. I am aware that Outlook provides “focus” and “other” mailboxes to help address this, but the vast majority of users will not sit and configure this from a blank slate. Rule 0 of good design is to provide intelligent defaults. And in this situation, every intelligent default that reduces notifications across the board directly credits more System 2 thinking capacity to the entire organisation. 

What do you do personally to maximise System 2 thinking capacity? What habits have you built? Do you have any suggestions for what can be done at a service/process/systems design level to address this? 

#futureofwork #behaviorscience #digitalworkplace #productivity