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Email, the worst excuse for communications

Posted on August 7, 2009 by Jeremy Toeman

Following my theme of recognizing interesting barriers of communications due to technology (well, by theme I mean one post), I thought I’d help rant about another one.  And, just like the previous topic, it’s something I’ve probably been guilty of myself, and am also working on being better about.  Email has created an amazing barrier to communications.

What do I mean?

First, there’s the signal vs noise problem of people getting too many emails.  Newsletters and other mailing lists are partly to blame, as is spam, but a real issue in my opinion is the over-CC-ing.  Whether its large internal groups or other methods of including a lot of folks, there’s a whole heckuvalot of threads people are CC’ed on that are probably unnecessary.  Regardless of the Why, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t feel they get too much email to properly handle.

Second, people are using email to do things that are better done on the phone.  For example, scheduling phone calls.  It seems like instead of just picking up the phone and dialing people have resorted to emailing each other about the future plans to call each other.  Again, I’ll be totally upfront and admit I do it too, but I’m most certainly aware of the problem and am working on it.

Third, and the real reason I wrote this post, is related to #2 above, and is all about people using email to avoid having meetings.  Here’s a summary of how those emails go, where I’ll use fictitious Bill and Steve as my two personas having a realistic, but purely fictitious dialogue:

From: Bill
Sent: Monday, July 6th at 08:11am
To: Steve
Subject: Nice seeing you at that event!
Steve,
It was fun catching up with you in the halls at that conference.  I wanted to follow up with you on meeting in person to talk about possible opportunities.  How’s next Thursday at your office?
-Bill

From: Steve
Sent: Thursday, July 9th at 04:45pm
To: Bill
Subject: re: Nice seeing you at that event!
Good to see you too.  Can’t do next Thursday, going to be in NYC.  Would love to catch up.
S

From: Bill
Sent: Thursday, July 9th at 06:11pm
To: Steve
Subject: re: Nice seeing you at that event!
No problem.  How about the week following, when you’re back from your trip?  I’m good pretty much every afternoon other than Monday.  Let me know if anything in there works for you!
-Bill

From: Bill
Sent: Tuesday, July 14th at 11:41am
To: Steve
Subject: re: Nice seeing you at that event!
Steve,
Just wanted to touch base again about next week?  I’m still free on Mon, Tues, and Fri afternoons next week.  Anything good for you?
-Bill

From: Steve
Sent: Tuesday, July 14th at 11:42am
To: Bill
Subject: Out of Office Reply re: Nice seeing you at that event!

From: Bill
Sent: Monday, July 20th at 09:01am
To: Steve
Subject: Trying again…
Steve,
Hi, I’m still interested in meeting up with you this week.  I can do tomorrow after 3pm, or Friday after 1pm.  Anything there work?
-Bill

From: Steve
Sent: Monday, July 20th at 07:41pm
To: Bill
Subject: re: Trying again…
Sorry about missing you this week.  I could do something late next week if you can come out to my office.

From: Bill
Sent: Tuesday, July 21st at 08:44am
To: Steve
Subject: re: Trying again…
Sounds great.  Next Thursday, 2pm?  I’m free that afternoon.

From: Bill
Sent: Friday, July 24th at 10:11am
To: Steve
Subject: re: Trying again…
Steve – are we on for next Thursday afternoon?  I put down 2pm if that works for you…

From: Steve
Sent: Sunday, July 26th at 9:44pm
To: Bill
Subject: re: Trying again…
Going to end up on the road for big meetings this week, I didn’t realize you meant this week.

and so on…

Now I am definitely paraphrasing, but it’s not too far off the mark.  In our above scenario (in case it wasn’t clear) Steve just doesn’t want to meet with Bill, and just doesn’t seem to want to say it.  Instead, emails are ignored, meetings are missed, etc. There are certainly lots of excuses and such, but at the end of the day, it’s either time to pick up the phone, or drop it.  He’s just not that into meeting with you.

I’m sure my list of ways email is a pain is far from exhaustive.  But moving to Facebook, Twitter, or other direct messaging platforms is just substituting one leaky ship for another.  My only recommendation for fixing it is to keep your inbox as empty as possible, and to have the good sense about picking the right communication vehicle for the task at hand.  And there’s nothing like picking up the phone and just dialing…

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Posted in General | 5 Comments
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5 thoughts on “Email, the worst excuse for communications”

  1. Marina Martin says:
    August 7, 2009 at 9:09 pm

    Calling my phone is an incredible interruption. I hear it ring. Even if I’m too busy to pick it up, the repetitive ringing sound is enough to disrupt my concentration.

    Email, on the other hand, is not disruptive. I can check it when I choose (while I cannot make you call my phone when I choose). Provided I have notifications turned off, I won’t know you emailed me in the midst of my completing an important project until after I check.

    The problem with the above email thread is that Bill and Steve weren’t using email to schedule a call effectively. They should have public availability calendars, use a service like Doodle.com, or at the very least, the first email should have offered three choices, the reply email should confirm one of them, and then both parties should respect the meeting time. Skipping a phone meeting with me is just as disrespectful as skipping an in-person meeting.

    Reply
  2. Digidave says:
    August 8, 2009 at 12:00 am

    Will the Wave fix it?

    Reply
  3. DaveZatz says:
    August 8, 2009 at 4:55 am

    Reminds me of Jdate. 😉

    Reply
  4. Anon says:
    August 10, 2009 at 9:29 am

    …email conversations can drone on as much as five times as long as a telephone call, estimates Daniel McFarlane, principal member of Lockheed Martin’s engineering staff, who has researched interruptions. “Email is not a friction-free productivity tool,” he says. — WSJ Sept. 26, ’06 (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115923906128273954.html)

    Reply
  5. Jay Cuthrell says:
    September 22, 2009 at 7:53 am

    Hey Jeremy,

    It was nice meeting you at that event 😉

    Seriously though, it was good to run into you at TC50. After reading this post I’d like to extend a pre-vote invite to sit on a panel if it is selected (again) this year at SxSW

    http://fudge.org/too-much-text

    🙂

    -Jay

    Reply

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About

Jeremy Toeman is a seasoned Product leader with over 20 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, smart TV and consumer technology. Prior ventures and projects include CNET, Viggle/Dijit/Nextguide, Sling Media, VUDU, Clicker, DivX, Rovi, Mediabolic, Boxee, and many other consumer technology companies. This blog represents his personal opinion and outlook on things.

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