David Maister’s Passion, People and Principles

Hi David, I agree that overall email has been good for interaction. However, like any other tool its usefullness depends on the person using it. I have seen many messages written hastily. The fact that it removes visual and verbal clues sometimes complicates issues if you do not take the time to write in detail. Especially email lists where people who do not know each other, interaction quickly becomes nasty over disagreements. I believe email is very effective for professional purposes, but for personal matters I believe direct interaction is always better.

Yes, Ahmet, yes.

But think of all the NEW possibilities it has created. Like waking up in the morning, when you are on the road, to find a message from your spouse telling you that you are the most wonderful person in the world and that you are truly loved.

Nothing can beat THAT feeling! Even if it is not “direct” communication.

As with most technological advances, e-mail has both positive and negative aspects.

The main positives, in my experience, are the ability to reach busy people and provide links to useful information on the Internet. Many fewer executives screen their e-mails as effectively as their office assistants screen their telephone time. With the advent of blackberries, access can be nearly instantaneous—even during meetings.

Another advantage involves the removal of the time constraints that hamper traditional modes of communication. The odds that my twin brother and I are both available and able to talk during the course of a work day are slim, yet we can communicate frequently.

I send out a daily e-mail to approximately 80 people, and that is a huge added value and benefit to my “personal brand.” It also has made collaboration/editing and document delivery much more efficient.

The major downside of e-mail is that it is often used as a substitute for a more personalized message or a telephone call. Some messages seem much harsher than intended. And e-mails can last forever, making an imprudent statement very costly.

As with all communication methods, prudence is required.

David: Email is a great productivity tool but it isn’t right for every scenario. The +’s outweigh the -’s in my opinion for the reasons you laid out. But it takes practice to be proficient at it – its another important business skill that must be learned. Email is great for the high-volume exchange of information. In an hour, you can communicate with a dozen people via email versus 3 or 4 by phone. And, in our business where we have customers in Europe and Asia, email is very convenient with the different time zones and many clients write English well even if they can’t speak it very well. For important client conversations, I prefer telephone or in person but use email for setting these meetings up. All in all, I think email is wonderful. But, I refuse to become a slave to it and do not own a Blackberry. When I leave the office, email is over until tomorrow morning. It’s important for me to draw boundaries between my work and my personal life.

Good things about email:

1. It makes it easy to move documents from almost anyone to almost anyone.

2. There are those who will never return my phone call, who will always return my email.

3. It’s precise (written) communication, that leaves an audit trail (”... On June 20 you said…”). (Similar to David’s point d above.)

4. It allows for more asynchronous communication. Remember when we had to use voice mail for that? Sometimes it took hours to go through them all and you could only go through them serially. Email is much more effective than voice mail was.

5. The tools to create, process and read email are getting better and better. I can create a task reminder or calendar entry right from an email an retain all the background info that I need.

6. Because of all these reasons I really believe it enables me to get more done.

What don’t I like:

1. As Ahmet said, it’s fast, sometimes too fast.

2. Because if its ubiquity it gets used for things it shouldn’t. There are better tools for collaboration, meeting planning and group communication. But everyone understands email so we use it when we shouldn’t.

3. Without discipline it can get out of control. We need to process it like we do paper where we handle it once and either act on it, file it or delete it. Otherwise it can be a real time sink.

All that said, our kids will think of it like we think of phone service. It’s a must have communication tool.

Putting aside benefits of both reading/writing a language and information velocity, e-mail allows us the opportunity to work asynchonously. To put it simply, if text/instant messaging is the Blink! side then e-mail is the Think! side of the equation.

That opportunity to pause, reflect upon, and craft our communications is good for us and may improve our ability to communicate clearly.