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> The whole point of email is that I can send on my schedule, and you can read it on yours. A major cause of email overload is that senders don't respect the "
by csallen 15y ago
> The whole point of email is that I can send on my schedule, and you can read it on yours.
A major cause of email overload is that senders don't respect the "you can read it on yours" part of that statement. Instead, they send emails requesting info that they need to act on within a specific window of time (usually hours or days). This implicitly assigns recipients a time limit, because responding too late would be considered rude. If you're receiving 500+ emails a day that expect a prompt response, you don't stand a chance.
Communication works both ways. If you can't be bothered to take my schedule into account, then don't contact me. Complaining about this is akin to complaining about someone having a secretary.
- jwallaceparker 15y ago>> This implicitly assigns recipients a time limit, because responding too late would be considered rude. If you're receiving 500+ emails a day that expect a prompt response, you don't stand a chance. This issue is addressed with a standard "Out of Office" response. The difference here is that Dave is making everyone who emailed him wait until some future date to re-send any non-urgent message. It significantly reduces the workload for Dave but increases the workload for others. I'd be curious to hear the reaction of people who emailed him and had to wait to re-send their message.
- csallen 15y ago>> It significantly reduces the workload for Dave but increases the workload for others. Yes, but that's to be expected. If you're a very popular person, people should have to compete for your time. That's marginally inconvenient for them, yes, but it makes your life livable. It's like important CEOs having a secretary.
- officemonkey 15y ago> It's like important CEOs having a secretary. I've never understood why busy people don't use staff to "pre-clean" the inbox. Especially if you get dozens of emails a day. After a vacation (heck, every day), I spend a lot of time deleting spam, daily reports, and threads I'm cc'd in (but get resolved by others).
- sivers 15y agoI do that, and it's the greatest thing ever. For 3 years now, I've had a full-time assistant who filters all my email, handles the FAQs, and only leaves a few per-day for me - just the ones that only I know the answer to. Anyone interested in this, feel free to email me for details.
- officemonkey 15y ago...and my assistant will get back to you. :-)
- damoncali 15y agoTom Osborne (the legendary Nebraska football coach and now athletic director for those who don't watch college football) does this. In fact, he sends and receives his email through an assistant, at least when dealing with the public. Still personal, but I imagine it helps him stay sane.
- chollida1 15y ago> I've never understood why busy people don't use staff to "pre-clean" the inbox. Most of my friends who have admin assistants do have their admin assistants do this. The admin assistant prioritizes every incoming email. They respond to the ones they can, forward on emails better suited for other people and flag important emails for their boss In fact
- notatoad 15y agothey send emails expecting an immediate response because they know you will respond immediately. i respond to emails within 24hrs. people know this, and don't expect anything faster. if somebody does expect a faster response, that's too bad. you need to reassess your understanding of rude and manage people's expectations of you. if somebody expects me to interrupt what i'm doing to answer their email, that's rude of them. if anybody requires an urgent response from me, they can try a synchronous method of communication. in the meantime, i've got things to do.