Instant Messaging – Essential business tool or time waster?

I have long felt that Instant Messaging (IM) is an often overlooked tool for remote collaboration and keeping virtual teams connected.  What was once a tool used by kids to chat with their friends now offers useful business features such as file transfer, video conferencing, multi-person chats, and document sharing.

For many knowledge workers IM has become a mission critical business tool, like the phone or email, for keeping in touch with team members and coworkers. However for many it is yet another digital source of interruptions that eats away at productivity when working in your virtual office.

Although it is often speculated that IM leads to increased interruptions and decreased productivity – A recent study by researchers at Ohio State University and University of California, Irvine found that workers who used instant messaging on the job reported less interruption than colleagues who did not.

” . . .research showed that instant messaging was often used as a substitute for other, more disruptive forms of communication such as the telephone, e-mail, and face-to-face conversations. Using instant messaging led to more conversations on the computer, but the conversations were briefer.”

Another recent study found that IM is often a better tool for brainstorming than email.

My opinion is that, like any tool, it really depends on how you use it. This is one of the reasons I recommend that virtual teams setup up Communication Guidelines that discuss how they will use various forms of communication and take some time to communicate about how they are going to communicate. While that experssion often gets a chuckle when I mention it to people or managers in our workshops – it is remarkable how few teams actual take this important step to ensure everyone is on the same page.

I will be the first to admit that while I consider IM an essential communication tool (I use a combination of Yahoo Messenger and Skype for video conferencing) it can easily interrupt my workflow and focus if I don’t manage it wisely.

I was delighted to find some good tips in a post today on Web Worker Daily (one of the few blogs I follow on my iGoogle homepage) on how to use IM without ruining your productivty.

I look forward to adopting some of these tips, along with checking my email less frequently, in an effort to improve my focus and work more effectively.

What are your thoughts on IM?  Do you and your team use it for business?  Does it make you more or less effective?  Post and comment and share your thoughts!