Like most people I get a stupid amount of email in work. Most of it I don’t need (cc’ed to me) or it’s something that could have been addressed by someone coming to talk to me. In the past it was perceived that sending an email was better than going to talk to a person, as you wouldn’t be disturbing them. I think we’ve passed a tipping point. Email is now a burden. I’ve been as guilty in the opposite direction in the emails I’ve sent to people. I recently decided to make a change. This was another of these type of decisions.
I have decided to only send an email in work if I have to. If I need to communicate with someone then I will try to talk to them or use Yammer before emailing. The order of trying to get in touch with people will be:
- In Person
- via telephone
- Yammer
It’s early days with Yammer use in work but it’s looking good so far. Now if I can get people to stop sending me emails…