Comments on: Why Email Isn’t Instant Messaging

By: Scott Smith

Scott Smith — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:49:34 +0000

Email is non-deterministic: There’s no guarantee an email was received, read or understood. The biggest problem with all on-line communications is that there’s no formal process in-place to teach users how everything works and to establish best practice. Email has become a sloppy way to communicate which is complicated due to spam and sheer convenience. Because it’s so readily available, people compose messages without much thought, expedience and speed ruling the moment, so there’s lots of back-n-forth going on and not much actual communication. There is a place for both Email and IM, but management should weigh the respective use cases and benefits and train users accordingly.

By: Elizabeth Saunders-Time Coach

Elizabeth Saunders-Time Coach — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:12:47 +0000

Great post. I really like your mention of the simple technique of using daily Google doc and phone updates.

Through my own experience as a business owner and through working with time coaching clients, I’ve found that so much of managing e-mail (and boundaries with people in general) is setting expectations. I’ve set the expectation that I consistently answer all of my e-mail within 24 hours but typically only respond to urgent e-mail the day they are sent.

Because people have that expectation when working with me, they don’t assume that they can or will receive an immediate response. And if they do need a quick answer, they call or put “Urgent” in the subject line.

By: Stuart Crawford

Stuart Crawford — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:41:29 +0000

Thanks JP for the mention here. I got this idea from Tim Ferris’ “Four Hour Work Week”. We use Google exclusively at Ulistic as well for all communication. David and I will put our thoughts in a doc and them simply share it. I can view it on my iphone or my Macbook…don’t matter.

Google’s email interface for this sort of behaviour is awesome. I tried it once with Exchange and really hated the “Out of Office” which is put in front of each message. Not sure why Microsoft still uses the old “Out of Office” on their responders.

If you would like to see my “notification” simply shoot me an email with a title starting you saw this on MSPMentor and I will also send you a free eBook on Social Media – shameless plug email address is scrawford@ulistic.com

Cheers

Stuart Crawford
ULISTIC Inc.
403.775.2205
http://www.ulistic.com

By: Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:40:32 +0000

Scott@1: I’ll be sure to check out awayfinder. Thanks for the tip
Stu@2: Let us know what other biz trends emerge at Spring Training or Business.
Daniel@3: Generally speaking, I know when my business or our team members call it’s important. Emails that require a response get dragged and dropped into an “action items” folder that I try to clear out once daily. But I’ve been known to fall behind on that…

I’ve got to say, the Google Docs tip I shared has been the single most effective way to drive more efficient communications within our company. And it costs us nothing. Also, we have scheduled daily calls with team members that typically take 15 minutes and cover all of our daily urgent matters. Those standing calls cut down on random phone tag exercises.
-jp

By: Daniel Mundy

Daniel Mundy — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:35:02 +0000

When you’re encouraging people to call rather than email, how do you avoid slipping into an “interrupt-driven workplace” – answering 4-6 phone calls per hour, never able to really focus on your work?

I *really appreciate* the fact that email is not an instant communication tool. I let all calls go to a voice mail message advising them to email me unless it is an absolute emergency. I check emails twice a day.

99% of people who pick up the phone don’t *need* an immediate response, and the response they get via email is more useful as I’ve had the time to really understand the question I’m about to answer.

It seems like people are torn between your “calling is quicker” and my “email is less intrusive” ideas.

By: Stuart Selbst

Stuart Selbst — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:30:54 +0000

Joe,

This is a great post. The funny thing is that I read this, I am working on a presentation focused on Time Management for my Spring Training for Business event.

I like Stuart’s approach to replying to email and as I streamline my business I will also be implementing similar email procedures to allow me and my staff be more productive.

All the best,

Stu

By: Scott Cover

Scott Cover — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:27:47 +0000

I actually have a good friend of mine who actually created a product specifically designed around addressing the problem of people expecting instant answers through e-mail. It’s a great product and they just released Exchange integration this week. I’d recommend checking it out. It’s called Awayfind and can be found at http://www.awayfind.com. If you do check it out let Jared know I said hi.

-Scott