***This is a memo I sent at work today. Good fodder for how to get me in general. Yes, I sent it via email. But that fits within my rules.**
I come not to praise email, but to bury it.
I have finally reached the breaking point with email. Email is irretrievably broken as a quick communications tool. This is a note about the best way to get in touch with me for any timely info.
Not email.
If you email me something in the morning, it quickly gets buried in client emails, etc. so: if you need to tell me something timely and want to make sure I get the message in time, do the following:
- Stop by my desk
- Buzz my extension
- Call my cell – or text message me
- If you are on Twitter, direct messages go right to my phone
- I am on Skype for IM. I have AIM, but don’t always have it turned on.
Email is best for:
- Documents
- To-do lists
- Anything else that should be kept as an ongoing record.
- Anything that is not timely.
So if it doesn’t need to be in an email, don’t send it that way. If you don’t mind if I don’t see something for a few hours, then go ahead.
Thanks—and have a great Thanksgiving,
Doug
I don’t think it’s fair to say that email is dead, but just rather that the purpose of email has shifted and is now more of a long term communication tool. I agree that there are better ways to reach me generally, but for monitoring long term conversations and documenting such it still works pretty well. Replacements could likely be made, but the great thing about email is that it is used my 99.999% of internet users. Not everyone uses twitter, skype, and their phone lines may be out of the country.
Overall, I agree with the main point, but it’s not dead… just disabled.
David, you are exactly correct, of course. But if I put it that way it wouldn;t be much of a rant. In no way am I giving up email, but yes the uses are shifting.
Aaah, remember back in the good ol’ days when email was the ONLY good way to communicate, especially for those of us who don’t like to talk on the phone or write letters?
Now I forget to answer email as well.
I LOVE technology. :)
Ah yes, I remember — I am beyond not responding to emails,– I have a hard time reading them all