The Tyranny of Email

Circuit Breaker writes "Are you or your co-workers using email instead of phone, face to face conversations, or instant messaging? Read this article, and hand out copies to your mates."

Comments

Slashdotted

[supergiovane]

The article seems already slashdotted. Can someone e-mail me a copy, please?

Slashdotted, but...

[marko123]

Can someone post the story in reply to this comment, so I can get it by email notification?

Thanks

Re:Blast

[kryonD]

The directions clearly said that copies should be handed out. You're just gonna have to wait.

OK...fine...maybe someone will email it to you ;)

Thanks for the Article

[RedWolves2]

Thanks for the article. I forwarded the URL, in an e-mail, to all my co-workers.

Partial whoring of karma

[guacamolefoo]

I got slashdotted halfway through loading the page:

In a hurry? Then please see the rules for avoiding email tyranny and the guidelines for being productive.

Email is one of the greatest things the computer revolution has done for personal productivity. Used improperly, it can also hurt your productivity. This article discusses ways to use email effectively. Then it goes beyond that and talks about how to be productive, period.

When Email Goes Bad

I'm not going to list all the reasons email is good. You know them already, I assume you are an avid email user. (Anyone reading this is online, and just about anyone who goes online uses email.) I'm also not going to tell you email is evil, because it isn't. The negative productivity impact of email comes from the way you use it, not the medium itself.

There are two ways email impairs your productivity:

It breaks your concentration.
It misleads you into inefficient problem solving.
Let's take the concentration impact first. I'm a software engineer, and programming requires extended periods of concentration. Actually this isn't unique to programming, a lot of fields require that you concentrate. (Probably just about everything worth doing requires some concentration!)

{
I maintain that programming cannot be done in less than three-hour windows. It takes three hours to spin up to speed, gather your concentration, shift into "right brain mode", and really focus on a problem. Effective programmers organize their day to have at least one three-hour window, and hopefully two or three. (This is why good programmers often work late at night. They don't get interrupted as much...)
}

One of the key attributes of email is that it queues messages. Unlike face-to-face conversation and 'phone calls, people can communicate via email without both paying attention at the same time. You pick the moments at which you pay attention to email. But many people leave their email client running continuously. This is the biggest baddest reason why email hurts your productivity. If you leave your email client running, it means anyone anytime can interrupt what you're doing. Essentially they pick the moments at which you pay attention. (Even some random spammer who is sending you a crappy ad for a get-rich scheme.) This is bad.

There are three stages to this badness. Stage one is configuring your email client to present alerts when you receive an email. Don't do this. Stage two is configuring your email client to make noise when you receive an email. Don't do this. Stage three is running your email client all the time. Don't do this, either. To be effective, you must pick the moments at which you're going to receive email. I know this go

Sorry -- the end.

GF.