E-mail and mailing lists are still, I think, a good tool for long-form asynchronous communication. For some things, I want the opportunity to think about my br

E-mail and mailing lists are still, I think, a good tool for long-form asynchronous communication. For some things, I want the opportunity to think about my broader point for a while before I subject others to it. In response, I want to extend the same courtesy to others; after all, I would like a reasoned reply! I acknowledge that having Too Much e-mail is terrible and frustrating. But I think this is the same as any other distracting time sink; e.g., agendaless face-to-face meetings, especially if organised on a daily or weekly cadence. What, for me, is the root cause of the frustration is when I spend so much time feeling very busy, but getting nothing substantial done. This applies to any source of unlimited distractions: e-mail, meetings, chat, or even Twitter. I think the solution to these problems is partially cultural. It has to be broadly understood that it is just fine to switch off IM and get some work done for a while. It's generally not polite to pounce on people at their desks; doing so over IM can be just as disruptive. Don't expect a response to e-mail as soon as you've hit send, and don't schedule endless meetings unless you've something to discuss. This is mostly how things are at my workplace these days, and I feel much better as a result. Next up: following less people on Twitter!