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E-mail-free Friday
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A group of engineers at Intel have declared today “Zero E-mail Friday,” encouraging everyone in the company to either use the phone or get up out of their chairs and walk across the hall to communicate with co-workers. Others are declaring e-mail bankruptcy, deleting their entire in-box and starting over. Have we in our corporate and personal lives become too e-mail dependent?
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Soul searching
Yes.
For example, someone writes a non-urgent e-mail, and then writes back in a few hours wondering why it’s taking you so long to respond.
Or somebody sends you a three-page form to fill out by e-mail and insists that it be returned the next day, even though they were supposed to give you a week’s notice.
Or somebody in the very next cubicle sends an e-mail to a co-worker asking if he or she wants to go out to lunch.
Horrible idea. Absolutely horrible! Communicate with coworkers? What were they thinking? That’s as bad as the Jump to Conclusions Mat.
No. I wouldn’t have my job without e-mail because it allows me to live in a different city from where my employer’s home base is located. 90% of my communication is by e-mail. Only 10% is by phone.
As far as I’m concerned, the 3 best business solutions that I enjoy most are:
1. E-mail
2. Electronic records
3. Go To My PC
With those three I am able to work just about anywhere. I can pack my entire office in a briefcase and go where I’m needed. Now if I can just convince my employer that I should be able to work from home…
I admit that I do work related emails on Saturdays, too, but Sunday is my one day I choose to be email free. It has added another dimension to the meaning of the Lord’s Day being a day of rest.
I don’t think so, for the mostpart. Granted, there is some silly over-the-top stuff, but I rely on it and rely less on snail mail, filing cabinets, telephones and other sorts of documentation as a result.
My favorite email of all time came from the owner of a relatively small, but growing, company wherein we were advised that the official language of the company was English and NOT Farci. I still read it when I want a good laugh. It always brightens my day. Dependant,yes… TOO dependant, No.
Can I delete everything in MY inbox?
TOO dependent on email? I don’t think so. It’s a wonderful convenience and makes alot of needed communication much simpler!
actually I find email to be much more effective than the phone for most communication.
1) it can be read and reread to understand what the other peron meant
2) the other person can’t deny what they said
As such there is generally better clarity in email than is ever possible with phone or an in person conversation.
As is well known, what is lost in email is the emotional context of the communication. I never use email to try to understand how a person feels about something.
Here are two more reasons I like e-mail when it comes to work:
1. No phone tag. I hate playing phone tag with people!
2. There is a record of what was said and done. In my line of business it’s very important.
Now if my company wants to have “e-mail free” Fridays, I will be thrilled to comply because that means I will have the day off. A 4 day work week sounds good to me!
I would add one more item to Musing’s list:
3) I can write and rewrite to make sure I’m clear with what I mean
(just like I did now on this post)
A century ago, one might have asked “Are we too telephone dependent?” The answer is the same today: No.
Email is not simply an alternative way to communicate. It’s an instant way to transfer small and large amounts of information…information being what essentially runs the world.
And like Anlir said, it makes it possible to work efficiently from long distance. That’s not over-dependence; that’s progress!
I like Intel’s email-free “holiday”, but more for the fun and unique get-away aspect. Email is not bad. It is very, very good.
I’m retired, so I no longer have to deal with work-related emails. But, as far as personal contacts go, it bothers me that emails have no inflections - what you mean write humorously sometimes comes across as harsh. You can only use a couple of emoticons before your note gets overloaded
That having been said, I’d lose contact with some people if we didn’t have email. We lead such busy lives that sometimes the only time to reach out is in the middle of the night. Writing helps clarify your thoughts, too. Just last night I was able to reach a decision by emailing a friend 1300 miles away. Putting my concerns in writing helped me see better, she in return used a phrase I hadn’t thought of to put things in perspective.
So, yes, I’m in favor of emails, as long as you don’t cut out personal contact altogether.
“There is a record of what was said and done. In my line of business it’s very important.”
Great point, Anlir. Same for me. Documentation is critical for most people in business. Email archiving gives me access to a lot of crucial interactions I’ve had over the years.
Send me an email on this and I will get back to you on it.
I just looked at my work e-mail folders, and I have several individuals that I work with that are over 10,000 e-mails (one has over 17,000!). I use Outlook, and have so many e-mail folders, that I have “A” lists, “B” lists, etc. depending on how important the person is. I use “Z” for folders that are no longer active. Within each person’s folder are sub-folders for various categories, and within those sub-folders are more folders for the years. Needless to say, it’s quite extensive, but massively organized. Sitting in my in-box right now are 91 messages. At times I have been as high as 300 in my in-box.
I may need professional counseling
I just looked at my work e-mail folders, and I have several individuals that I work with that are over 10,000 e-mails (one has over 17,000!).
I use Outlook, and have so many e-mail folders, that I have “A” lists, “B” lists, etc. depending on how important the person is. I use “Z” for folders that are no longer active. Within each person’s folder are sub-folders for various categories, and within those sub-folders are more folders for the years. Needless to say, it’s quite extensive, but massively organized.
Sitting in my in-box right now are 91 messages. At times I have been as high as 300 in my in-box.
I may need professional counseling
random name post 11,
can we IM you or text you? email is so twentieth century!
I’ll just toss in another e-mail pet peeve: people with the cognitive inability to remember that there’s a big difference between Reply to Sender, and Reply (All).
I see the positive aspects to e-mail that others have mentioned. Like all technological conveniences, tough, it has its negatives. Anyone agree, considering the examples I gave?
Here’s another example:
People don’t detect the correct tone in your message and think either that your feelings about a matter are either stronger or weaker than you meant to convey. There’s no way to instantly clarify your position, as there is with face-to-face or telephone interactions.
txt and IM has replaced a significant portion of my email. especially among friends/family, close co-workers.
there is a fine art of composing business email such that you minimize the number of replies in return. otherwise, you just never get ahead. there’s nothing worse than an email storm that fills up your morning Inbox because someone has sent a poorly worded email, and decides to CC the world.
i hate to be an e-snob, but admitedly, i’ve little tolerance for these email novices.
desk phone, wireline phone? collecting dust in the corner along with my eight track player, wood tennis racket, and pocket fisherman.
Drat! My earlier post has disappeared into the void…
I agree that the lack of tone is a drawback to e-mail. But at least for me, it’s strictly business, so it’s pretty straightforward.
For personal e-mail (and blogging as well) it’s problem not being able to reflect tone.
kyle a post 14,
there is a tendency for the reader of email (or blog posts) to interpret the message typically more strongly than was intended.
My sense is email is what is considered a “low context” communication environment.
I find e-mail is great for staying in touch with friends who are busy or far away. I can take my time to write or reply to an e-mail at my own convenience.
Kayvee - I have a confidante with whom I communicate via e-mail. I have found that I have had to sometimes put in a paranthetical statement, such as “(written with humor, not anger)”, to make sure that something isn’t misunderstood due to the lack of inflection.
I consult with entities all over a state that is larger than many countries. Email allows me to do 10 times the work - with a record left of exactly what it was I told everyone.
Is it abused. Yes. What isn’t?
Karen O - # 18
I know what you mean, I sometimes think I “talk” in parentheses [I seem to use a lot of “asides”]. And I don’t like to use quote marks as I just did, but it accentuates the word I would normally emphasize if I were speaking.
My only problem is those who
>think they need
>>to forward everything they find
>>>amusing or funny to everyone
>>>>in their contact list.
>>>>>Plus, instead of using copy and paste,
>>>>>they send it on with the extra
>>>>>>carats at the head of every line,
>>>>>>>making it difficult to read at times.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>They also don’t delete all the email
headers
>>>>>>>>making it possible for SPAMers to get
>>>>>>>>addresses.
Anyway, you get my point. Worse than the amusing forwards are those which threaten something awful if you don’t “send this on to at least ten people to show you care.”
PUH-LEEZE!
I blew it already. I’ve only sent one, but it was acceptance of a proposal and I needed to have a record of it. I don’t use email nearly as much as I used to.
Now I’ll email everyone in my address book to tell them it’s email free Friday! not
I agree that email is a useful tool that can be abused, and you folks have listed many real advantages.
The problem is I’ve found myself using email all the time, even when none of the advantages apply. Because I’m compulsive about editing my own writing to perfect it, I can spend way longer writing an email than it would take to simply pick up the phone. So it ends up being a time-waster.
For the past couple years I’ve been trying to remember to think before I write an email about whether or not I could accomplish the same thing more quickly by phone.
Well I seem to be having trouble here.
I have sent only 47 emails since I got in this morning.
E-mail is a tool like any other. It can be used effectively or abused. I like it for its capacity to provide a history of communication to a group of people for the purposes of accountability in the workplace. I also like the ability to contact someone at their convenience, send original documents instantaneously without wasting paper via a fax machine and maintain an archive of important communiques accessible via the network and Internet from anywhere. Finally, e-mail is great for scheduling that face time we still need.
Sorry for the double post. The ghosts in the machine at Worldmag have been quite active today!
I have had to learn to use email more at my current job. I don’t like using the phone, but I would rather talk to someone in person if possible, because I do like being able to not only hear tone of voice but see facial expression.
At my company, however, the corporate standard is to use email as the primary means of communication. For the various reasons listed above - it provides a clear record, it eliminates phone tag, it lets people work from remote offices, it allows various kinds of file attachments.
My particular job, which is approving software changes for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, is built around email as a platform to not only send requests and approvals but for permanent storage of all documentation. So if I sent no other emails all day, I would have to read and send them to do the main part of my job.
Frankly I like email. I think better with my hands on a keyboard and words appearing in front of me on the screen. I can edit my thoughts, delete them when they get too wordy or don’t sound right (especially when I realize they’ll likely be misunderstood), and I have a record of what I wrote and what someone else wrote, so I can see if I really did say what I meant to, or refresh my memory on what someone told me.
Hmm, that comment I just wrote didn’t show up. I’m glad my emails don’t usually get lost the way comments here do.
It’s all about moderation. Almost anything can be good as long as a person is accountable and doesn’t go on over-kill.
Email is a great resource and I use it frequently, but I don’t sit on the comp waiting for people to get on so I can lol with them.
NOTE-This wouldn’t post to the WV thread, so I am attempting it here using IE7 instead of Firefox. Sorry if this is redundant from WV, should it show up there. I thought I was not having problems, but I tried posting this comment a few hours ago (would have been WV #50 something). Not there!)
Whoa! I agree with anlir about the gremlin! My last post (on WV) was #32 when I posted, now it is #47. I guess some of the missing posts have appeared!
(Windows passing stars screen saver)-
(Slightly eerie music)-
(Voice of Capitan Kirk-like geek)- Cyberspace, the final frontier….
encouraging everyone in the company to either use the phone or get up out of their chairs and walk across the hall to communicate with co-workers.
What’s a “phone”?
In an informal environment, there are many ways to provide at least a minimal level of tonal context. Consider the following:
This statement is matter-of-fact.
This statement is more matter-of-fact than the last one.
_This_ statement is the same as the last one, but doesn’t require the ability to italicize.
I like to star actions or sound effects. *punches monkey* *oip!* *runs from angry monkey*
Emotocons are good. I _never_ overuse them. *shifty eyes* Heheh. ^_^;
Cuthalion:
A phone is one of those things that women walk around holding to their ears, and saying, “I’ve already told you NO, I don’t want to hear anymore about it.” It’s also that thing guys wear on their belts. Guys don’t use them much, but it’s an important part of their outfit.
All teen agers, and early twenties women use them to communicate with each other when they are more than thirty feet away.
When you’re in a theater or restaurant and hear an Elvis song, Dixie, or Theme From Moulon Rouge, that’s the ring of a phone. It’s a signal for an urgent message, like “Can I use the car tonight?”
Hope that helps.
Hope this posts.
But, maybe not.
Intel engineers will just use their alphanumeric pagers if they give up e-mail for a day.
I couldn’t do my job without email. It’s just a fast way to send a letter or memo, as far as I’m concerned. I have a different peeve: E-mail is not an instant messaging tool.
home owner quote instant insurance…
Can\’t wait till the next post…
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but I spammed anyway.
This is just a test. Sorry.
I like email.