4 ms·

Why email is broken and what we can do to fix it

12 points by jeffepp 14y ago

chaselee 14y ago
I would also say TODO lists are broken. Would love to hear your thoughts on that.
- ricardojr 14y ago
  I love my paper based TODO lists. I kind of have OCD and sometimes I will even write a TODO list for the things I need to do within the next hour. So for the type of user like me, nothing beats the flexibility, accessibility, and usability of a piece of paper. I don't think Fetchnotes should tackle TODO list functionality, I believe its awesome powers lies within long-term note taking.
mahcuz 14y ago
This again...
ahorak 14y ago
I'd argue that the folder hierarchy that most email clients and organizational processes use is fundamentally flawed as well. Information doesn't exist in one place and shouldn't be confined to a single folder. Tagging fixes this.
- adestefan 14y ago
  Honestly, I'm too lazy to tag thing. The search is the only thing I actually enjoy in gmail.
  - alexschiff 14y ago
    Yeah, a lot of people don't tag things. Search is really paramount for any application that's geared toward productivity or communication.
  - drumdance 14y ago
    I use a couple of GTD tags like "waiting for" and "someday", then use Gmail's Multiple Inbox to keep them in peripheral view so I remember review them periodically. Otherwise search is the way to go. Gmail shortcut tip: when looking at a message, type "l" (lowercase "L"), which will popup the labels picker, then type the first letter of the tag you want to apply, then enter to apply it an "y" to archive.
evertonfuller 14y ago
Email is not broken. It does what it does perfectly. All these calls for to-do functionality, events planning, etc. Nobody needs it except the writers of these articles. Just use other applications for it. We don't need to shake up email just because you want to.
- alexschiff 14y ago
  The problem with email is that it's no longer a communication tool but a representation of the things you need to do. If it was just about communication, then that's one thing, but that's not what it is anymore. That's why you see so many people email themselves or say "yeah email me to remind me". But when you go down that path it's just an unorganized firehose. If we're stuck with communication tools representing "what we need to do", shouldn't we be building better tools to support that rather than saying "eh it's good enough"?
  - voyou 14y ago
    What I don't know that I've ever seen in these kind of "replace email" articles is an investigation of why, if email is so unsuited to this task, it is so widely used this way. It may turn out that the things the author thinks are disadvantages are closely related to advantages of email. For example, the complaint that, with email, anyone can "add something to your to-do list"; sure, that's a problem, but the fact that I can just ask any person I run into to email me a reminder without having to fiddle with my email system to allow them to do that, is actually a big advantage. The challenge for an email replacement, then, would be to allow more control over this without introducing any more friction.
  - jimbobimbo 14y ago
    People are doing this because it just works. With email nobody needs to be on the same page in terms of email software stack, TODO organization, having all tools necessary to file an item in TODO list on hand, etc. It's the same thing like using plain old paper to scribble down things and do something better later on, going over notes, when time/place permits. It may look inefficient, but it doesn't have to be 100% efficient - people are inefficient, live with it.
zwieback 14y ago
Some good points but bad subject line. Email is the one non-broken constant I've used continuously. I started out using email, gopher, archie, usenet. Now, in the addition to "general web use" I'm still using email and, well, not much else. I'm sure there are plenty of people making good use of notetaking and to-do list apps but don't confuse it with the fundamental non-brokenness of email.
abruzzi 14y ago
The candle/light bulb analogy is the wrong analogy. The correct one is the light socket/wall outlet analogy. When electricity was first run into homes, it was all about light. So houses would have screw in bulb sockets installed. As more useful electric devices became available, people screwed adapters into the light sockets to run their devices. What they really needed were wall outlets (the Edison plugs we have in the US today). Wall outlets didn't kill the need for light sockets, they simply split off certain functionality that wasn't best served by those sockets, because those sockets were never designed for that purpose. Light bulbs killed the candle (except emergency, devotional, and mood lighting) and I don't thing todo, calendar, task management apps will kill email, but simply return it to it original, more limited purpose.
adamfeldman 14y ago
Facebook groups, Asana, Fetchnotes, etc are great for cases where you can get a whole team/group/family on one or a couple communication platforms. It's much harder to get your friends to adopt a new tool, like the different pre-iMessage BBM-like services, unless you can convince them they need it for a specific task/project, or the tool has a 'cool' value-add (Voxer-walkie talkie).
stonnyfrogs 14y ago
Why email is broken: author doesn't know how to organize himself What we can do to fix it: use author's commercial web site ...great, thanks
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

12 points by jeffepp 14y ago

chaselee 14y ago

I would also say TODO lists are broken. Would love to hear your thoughts on that.

ricardojr 14y ago
I love my paper based TODO lists. I kind of have OCD and sometimes I will even write a TODO list for the things I need to do within the next hour. So for the type of user like me, nothing beats the flexibility, accessibility, and usability of a piece of paper. I don't think Fetchnotes should tackle TODO list functionality, I believe its awesome powers lies within long-term note taking.

mahcuz 14y ago

This again...

ahorak 14y ago

I'd argue that the folder hierarchy that most email clients and organizational processes use is fundamentally flawed as well. Information doesn't exist in one place and shouldn't be confined to a single folder. Tagging fixes this.

adestefan 14y ago
Honestly, I'm too lazy to tag thing. The search is the only thing I actually enjoy in gmail.
- alexschiff 14y ago
  Yeah, a lot of people don't tag things. Search is really paramount for any application that's geared toward productivity or communication.
- drumdance 14y ago
  I use a couple of GTD tags like "waiting for" and "someday", then use Gmail's Multiple Inbox to keep them in peripheral view so I remember review them periodically. Otherwise search is the way to go. Gmail shortcut tip: when looking at a message, type "l" (lowercase "L"), which will popup the labels picker, then type the first letter of the tag you want to apply, then enter to apply it an "y" to archive.

evertonfuller 14y ago

Email is not broken. It does what it does perfectly. All these calls for to-do functionality, events planning, etc. Nobody needs it except the writers of these articles. Just use other applications for it. We don't need to shake up email just because you want to.

alexschiff 14y ago
The problem with email is that it's no longer a communication tool but a representation of the things you need to do. If it was just about communication, then that's one thing, but that's not what it is anymore. That's why you see so many people email themselves or say "yeah email me to remind me". But when you go down that path it's just an unorganized firehose. If we're stuck with communication tools representing "what we need to do", shouldn't we be building better tools to support that rather than saying "eh it's good enough"?
- voyou 14y ago
  What I don't know that I've ever seen in these kind of "replace email" articles is an investigation of why, if email is so unsuited to this task, it is so widely used this way. It may turn out that the things the author thinks are disadvantages are closely related to advantages of email. For example, the complaint that, with email, anyone can "add something to your to-do list"; sure, that's a problem, but the fact that I can just ask any person I run into to email me a reminder without having to fiddle with my email system to allow them to do that, is actually a big advantage. The challenge for an email replacement, then, would be to allow more control over this without introducing any more friction.
- jimbobimbo 14y ago
  People are doing this because it just works. With email nobody needs to be on the same page in terms of email software stack, TODO organization, having all tools necessary to file an item in TODO list on hand, etc. It's the same thing like using plain old paper to scribble down things and do something better later on, going over notes, when time/place permits. It may look inefficient, but it doesn't have to be 100% efficient - people are inefficient, live with it.

zwieback 14y ago

Some good points but bad subject line. Email is the one non-broken constant I've used continuously. I started out using email, gopher, archie, usenet. Now, in the addition to "general web use" I'm still using email and, well, not much else. I'm sure there are plenty of people making good use of notetaking and to-do list apps but don't confuse it with the fundamental non-brokenness of email.

abruzzi 14y ago

The candle/light bulb analogy is the wrong analogy. The correct one is the light socket/wall outlet analogy. When electricity was first run into homes, it was all about light. So houses would have screw in bulb sockets installed. As more useful electric devices became available, people screwed adapters into the light sockets to run their devices. What they really needed were wall outlets (the Edison plugs we have in the US today). Wall outlets didn't kill the need for light sockets, they simply split off certain functionality that wasn't best served by those sockets, because those sockets were never designed for that purpose. Light bulbs killed the candle (except emergency, devotional, and mood lighting) and I don't thing todo, calendar, task management apps will kill email, but simply return it to it original, more limited purpose.

adamfeldman 14y ago

Facebook groups, Asana, Fetchnotes, etc are great for cases where you can get a whole team/group/family on one or a couple communication platforms. It's much harder to get your friends to adopt a new tool, like the different pre-iMessage BBM-like services, unless you can convince them they need it for a specific task/project, or the tool has a 'cool' value-add (Voxer-walkie talkie).

stonnyfrogs 14y ago

Why email is broken: author doesn't know how to organize himself What we can do to fix it: use author's commercial web site ...great, thanks

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]