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I think what many people fail to realize, in a corporate setting, is that email is asynchronous communication. Email is not chat, and we need to approach it dif

I think what many people fail to realize, in a corporate setting, is that email is asynchronous communication. Email is not chat, and we need to approach it differently. When I send an email, I expect an answer when you get time--if it's something I need within 24-48 hours, I will call, visit, or IM you if you're online.

freejack 12y ago
Totally! this is exactly right. I work with one small group of people that outside of our weekly status meeting, shares a ton of chatty one-liners via email several times a day. It drives me crazy that I can't get them to adopt Slack for these types of interactions but sometimes it is impossible to teach a dog new tricks ;-)
- dlsx 12y ago
  Maybe because there is nothing wrong with our old tricks that you seem to think are "archaic." Maybe I hate phones? Maybe I am too busy to chat with you, not like I would want to anyway. >grumpy people like to deal in email! and we like it and we don't care for your hipster secret sharing app or Facebook Actually we just think your edgy teens that need to grow up. Stop trying to fix email. This is so annoying, because it is not broken. Email is perfect bliss, and technology has not advanced one particle iota further after it's invention. A truly perfect invention that suits everyone's needs.
JoeAltmaier 12y ago
I'd go further. If its urgent, I'll chat or text. If its complex, I'll call. I'd scatterplot all these forms of communication against latency and fidelity. Phone is lowest-latency and highest-fidelity (except for in-person of course). Email is high latency and high-fidelity. All the chat/text/twitter stuff is lower latency and spread across the fidelity spectrum. They all have their place. I hate it when someone mis-uses them, for instance calling me and leaving a message. Phone is low-latency and high-fidelity; a voice message is the opposite corner (no ability to go back-and-forth; I won't see it for hours/days if at all). Voice mail is the worst possible fallback for a phone call.
scott_s 12y ago
In my experience, people understand that. What they are not good at, however, is having the perspective to know when asynchronous communication is more appropriate. (You have a question which requires a lot of explanation, and I'm doing you a favor by answering it? Email.)

freejack 12y ago

Totally! this is exactly right. I work with one small group of people that outside of our weekly status meeting, shares a ton of chatty one-liners via email several times a day. It drives me crazy that I can't get them to adopt Slack for these types of interactions but sometimes it is impossible to teach a dog new tricks ;-)

dlsx 12y ago
Maybe because there is nothing wrong with our old tricks that you seem to think are "archaic." Maybe I hate phones? Maybe I am too busy to chat with you, not like I would want to anyway. >grumpy people like to deal in email! and we like it and we don't care for your hipster secret sharing app or Facebook Actually we just think your edgy teens that need to grow up. Stop trying to fix email. This is so annoying, because it is not broken. Email is perfect bliss, and technology has not advanced one particle iota further after it's invention. A truly perfect invention that suits everyone's needs.

JoeAltmaier 12y ago

I'd go further. If its urgent, I'll chat or text. If its complex, I'll call. I'd scatterplot all these forms of communication against latency and fidelity. Phone is lowest-latency and highest-fidelity (except for in-person of course). Email is high latency and high-fidelity. All the chat/text/twitter stuff is lower latency and spread across the fidelity spectrum. They all have their place. I hate it when someone mis-uses them, for instance calling me and leaving a message. Phone is low-latency and high-fidelity; a voice message is the opposite corner (no ability to go back-and-forth; I won't see it for hours/days if at all). Voice mail is the worst possible fallback for a phone call.

scott_s 12y ago

In my experience, people understand that. What they are not good at, however, is having the perspective to know when asynchronous communication is more appropriate. (You have a question which requires a lot of explanation, and I'm doing you a favor by answering it? Email.)