Ride the delete key

Email is one of the most burdensome marvels we’ve ever had in the workplace.

It’s hard to remember what business communication was like before email swept our world 10 or 15 years ago. It’s so easy now, and because it’s so easy it has choked the channels.

The downside comes because “easy” does not mean “better.” In fact it almost always means “worse.” Easy means less demanding for the originator . . . and a transfer of demand to the receiver. Not a good idea, when the whole transaction was not the receiver’s idea to start with.

Studies of email volume relegate a large portion to the category of useless, another sizable bunch to the seductive group of interesting but also useless, the lesser number that you’ll save for later today and the small minority that call for immediate action.

jimmillikenproject.blogspot.com

You can do things with this workplace communication vehicle that are amazingly useful. You also can be astonishingly self-destructive. 

Jim Milliken