4 ms·

Email is the victim of its own success. Because it had/has such dominance in the business world everyone had to live in their inbox, marketers appreciated that

Email is the victim of its own success. Because it had/has such dominance in the business world everyone had to live in their inbox, marketers appreciated that and lots of people grew to hate that. There have always been bad practices surrounding emails but I think it reached a point a long time ago where email itself was considered bad. Thus "email free Fridays" and internal comms plans which say email should be a last resort. People felt empowered to refuse to read many emails, especially if they were over 3-4 paragraphs. I too have colleagues who reflexively ask for a meeting in response to any email longer than a few lines, even though the issue is clearly communicated and obviously requires someone to read it and build a proper response. The ease with which we can all "jump on a call" has contributed to this. Yes, of course we've all seen email chains which go back and forth without progress but that's not a reason to assume every message will end up there.

rcarmo 3y ago
We could jump on calls well over seven years ago (I actually worked in ISDN video calling in the 1990s, and spent a decade or so working in a multinational telco, with plenty of conference calling involved). The loss of focus definitely accelerated with the rise of chat.
abalashov 3y ago
> I too have colleagues who reflexively ask for a meeting in response to any email longer than a few lines, even though the issue is clearly communicated and obviously requires someone to read it and build a proper response. Oh, yes. So much this. Except, I think it's fair to say it's managers and bosses who have this tendency, not so much colleagues.
fuzztester 3y ago
>The ease with which we can all "jump on a call" has contributed to this. I hate that term and concept "jump on a call". I often find that people don't prepare enough before the call, which defeats the purpose of the call.
lol768 3y ago
> I too have colleagues who reflexively ask for a meeting in response to any email longer than a few lines, even though the issue is clearly communicated and obviously requires someone to read it and build a proper response. I have spent many of these calls effectively just reading what I wrote in the email in the first place. Complete waste of my time.

rcarmo 3y ago

We could jump on calls well over seven years ago (I actually worked in ISDN video calling in the 1990s, and spent a decade or so working in a multinational telco, with plenty of conference calling involved). The loss of focus definitely accelerated with the rise of chat.

abalashov 3y ago

> I too have colleagues who reflexively ask for a meeting in response to any email longer than a few lines, even though the issue is clearly communicated and obviously requires someone to read it and build a proper response. Oh, yes. So much this. Except, I think it's fair to say it's managers and bosses who have this tendency, not so much colleagues.

fuzztester 3y ago

>The ease with which we can all "jump on a call" has contributed to this. I hate that term and concept "jump on a call". I often find that people don't prepare enough before the call, which defeats the purpose of the call.

lol768 3y ago

> I too have colleagues who reflexively ask for a meeting in response to any email longer than a few lines, even though the issue is clearly communicated and obviously requires someone to read it and build a proper response. I have spent many of these calls effectively just reading what I wrote in the email in the first place. Complete waste of my time.