When Can I Expect an Email Response?

An anonymous reader writes "Ever sit there waiting for an email response and wonder what's going on? Did they get it? Did it get filtered? A study looks at the responding habits of a large group of corporate users. They find, among other things, that users would try to 'project a responsiveness image. For example, sending a short reply if a complete reply might take longer than usual, intentionally delaying a reply to make themselves seem busy, or planning out timing strategies for email with read receipts.' Tit-for-tat, 'Users would try to reciprocate email behaviors -- responding quickly to people who responded quickly to them, and lowering their responsiveness to people who responded slowly to them in the past.'"

Comments

I'm not posting to slashdot...

[HotBlackDessiato]

...anymore. you never respond to my comments.

Re:I'm not posting to slashdot...

[eln]

Hey, I just wanted to get a quick reply out to you to let you know that I read your comment. I'll post more in detail later, I have a meeting I need to get to.

No no no!

[doxology]

I just the other day got...an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday, I got it yesterday.-Ted Stevens, honorable US Senator from Alasak

See, it's not that people time e-mails to make themselves look busy, it's that the tubes get full!

Re:No no no!

[Bob9113]

Ted Stevens, honorable US Senator from Alasak

You mean Alaska has an honorable Senator with the same name as the bridge guy? What are the odds?

Re:No no no!

[shigelojoe]

Ted Stevens, honorable US Senator from Alasak

You mean Alaska has an honorable Senator with the same name as the bridge guy? What are the odds?

No, it's from Alasak, which is like Bizarro-Alaska. Here, the senators are honorable, the winters are quite pleasant, and they really *are* in a box off the coast of Mexico.

Comment on the article

[hellfire]

The first comment to the article on that page is awesome and must be shared:

some additional behaviors that I've seen while working at a 30+ person startup:

- certain people respond to all emails in person, by getting up to talk to them or yelling across cubicles

- certain people prefer to communicate by email even when the recipient is sitting right next to them

- there is another group of people who send very few work-related emails, but who send interesting and/or funny emails to the entire company now and then.

Re:Comment on the article

[Lord Ender]

If you send someone an email, you want to be able to hold them to what they say in the reply.

If you talk in person instead of email, you don't want anybody to be able to hold you to what you say.

It's all about repudiation.

Its all individual

[mordors9]

I have 8 people that work in my Unit. When I send out an email to the group needing an immediate response, I know that only 2 will respond right away (assuming they are at their desk). The rest of them check their email at different frequencies. The little notice they get apparently does not stimulate their curiosity as it does mine. One of them will check each hour. I have one person that will check it each morning and that is it. So if you need an answer before that, you have to call him.

Re:Its all individual

[RevDobbs]

. . .The little notice they get apparently does not stimulate their curiosity as it does mine. . . . I have one person that will check it each morning and that is it. So if you need an answer before that, you have to call him.

Which is fine. It means he is concentrating on the task at hand and not being easily distracted.

If you need an immediate answer, why the hell are you resorting to email? There is no reliable way to even be sure that he received your message, let alone that he is going to read it right away or take the time to addesss it.

If you need an answer for something, never rely on email. It is great for "please review the attached doc and get back to me by Friday" (if followed up with a phone call before Friday) or "FYI" stuff. But it isn't a substitute for a phone call (which may still be shunted to voice mail), or a physical visit if the person is close enough.

Surprised?

[Gemini_25_RB]

I'm not. Frankly, I would have guessed this, especially considering that this is _corporate_ america, where looking busy can be more beneficial than doing good work. It is interesting how people would send an email and then keep checking "constantly" for a response. Why not just pick up a phone (or walk to the next cubicle in some cases) if you are that concerned about the message? Reciprocating, however, is ... odd; What do all the OCD emailers do the first time they contact someone?

As my former boss once said...

[stefanlasiewski]

"Email means that someone can ignore you instantly"... this after sending 25 emails and making 10 phone calls to someone else in the organization, and that person's supervisor, and the supervisor's supervisor.

Well, yeah...

[Otter]

Most users check their email "constantly"

One thing that contributes to that is Lotus Freaking Notes' brilliant feature of checking email, putting up an alert when you get new mail BUT NOT ACTUALLY DISPLAYING IT IN YOUR INBOX, thus forcing you to break your activity to make sure it's not something that can't be ignored.

As with much of Lotus Freaking Notes, this is a) an interface issue that was ironed out by the rest of the developer world 20 years ago and b) would have taken maybe 15 seconds longer to code properly than it did to do it wretchedly.

Email all day

[floppy ears]

At my company, almost everything is done by email. Most messages are responded to nearly immediately, and so everybody's expectation is that email is more of a conversation than something that will be looked at in 24 hours (may as well be 24 years).

Of course, little actually gets done since interruptions are contstant. Seriously, probably 2/3 of my time is allocated to just sending and receiving emails. And I work in a major, highly profitable company. I just don't understand how we do it.

furchin is Out of the Office Today

[furchin]

Thanks for sending me an email. I'm taking a short break today, Wednesday 8/30. In my absence, please talk to KaraM about the MxTK project, JuhnA for workflow issues, or HiuS for general questions.

Re:furchin is Out of the Office Today

[khasim]

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***error*** User has exceeded disk quota

I've cut back

[mccalli]

I've massively cut back my response times to email, and deliberately so. Maybe five times a day I'll go through and reply now, sometimes maybe three.

Instant messenger I tend to reply to...well...instantly. Even if it's only to say that I'll have to answer in a couple of minutes. Your best bet for getting hold of me is a phone message. Why will sound familiar to many. I was getting so distracted and interrupted by email that I turned off any notification that I'd received any. From then on, I found I was able to concentrate on my work a lot more.

What's been interesting is that people I regularly correspond with have noticed this and fitted in with the pattern fine. I don't think they've consciously done it - they've clearly learned how to get hold of me if they need to, and what kind of response times to expect otherwise. It's beneficial all round really - the key is that the two methods of getting hold of me quickly are interactive methods - phone or IM. This cuts down misunderstandings, stops people wasting time formulating the perfect email to send me because they can just get through it in a normal conversational style, adds informality as we're able to use a spot of humour whilst discussing whatever needs doing...it's just better. IRC aside, flamewars are more common in email than in IM. And phone-based flamewars? When's the last time you ever heard of one, if ever? Personal contact always mitigates such behaviour.

So email is no longer a quick way to reach me at work. It's a conscious choice, and it's worked out absolutely fine.

Cheers,
Ian

Re:I've cut back

[SanityInAnarchy]

I generally check my email at least once a day, probably several times. I can use the distraction.

It's extremely odd. As a programmer, distractions make me more productive, so long as they aren't actually interruptions. In Deep Hack Mode (TM), I won't be interrupted at all, so I simply won't check my mail. But most of the time, going to lunch, going for a walk, putting my feet up on my desk, or reading Slashdot will make me more productive, because it makes me think about something else.

Counterintuitive, but it works, because when I come back to what I was stuck on, I see it in a new way. It's almost as if the less I work, the better I work.

Of course, a significant amount of my time is spent doing more of a grind -- fix this bug, tweak this margin, look up that CSS property, go back to a co-worker and explain a fix I need. I can do that for days at a time. But when I'm actually doing what I'm good at, the programming work itself, that's when breaks make me productive.

However, even if this were not the case, I doubt I'd put it off for more than a few days. Unless I'm really that busy, I see no reason to. If it can reasonably be done over email, it makes sense that way, and when it can't, I pick up the phone or I walk into someone's office. I don't often see flamewars, and I don't try to formulate the perfect email -- I type in a normal conversational style.

I guess I separate interactivity from urgentness. For instance, if a server goes down and I'm needed to put out fires, a simple email, IM, SMS, phone call, or absolutely any way of getting the message "COME TO WORK" to me is fine. Another example: Discussing requirements with a client must always be done in person, but isn't necessarily urgent -- that meeting could be set up five days from now.

But that's just what's worked for me. I can understand people crafting the perfect email, or avoiding email for various reasons -- it doesn't have to make sense to me. It's probably the same sort of psychology which causes people to have rules about never taking work home, and having a place of work and a place of play that are distinct and separate -- the same psychology which suggests that you shouldn't do anything in bed other than sleep or sex.

Black Hole

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm surprised they didn't mention the people who are black holes. You send them emails, they read them, but they do nothing until you walk over there and prod them to see if they have read it and only then will they give you an answer.

I've tried all sorts of things to coax an answer out of people like this through email... writing shorter messages which only ask one yes/no question, writing longer ones, etc etc nothing I try seems to be able to make them type that damn reply.

Ob. Beatles

[jb.hl.com]

you never respond to my comments.

You only give me your funny mod points...

Re:read receipts

[gEvil (beta)]

I like to copy the text from a read receipt and then send a dozen or so messages containing that text to the sender over the next 30 minutes. : p

That thing I sent you!

[HTH NE1]

FROM: Potamus, Peter
TO: Falcone, Blue
SUBJECT: That thing I sent you!

Did you get that thing I sent you?

24 hours

[Wylfing]

Cripes, what is funny about this is that I have already metmodded posts from this topic.

Anyway, when I first started in business, which was a surprisingly long time ago given what I'm about to say, the head of our company met with every new hire and, among other things, said this:

Respond to every voice-mail within one hour, and respond to every e-mail within one day.

I have always taken that as a maxim of business communication. Professionals should respond in those timeframes, or else you need to assume (a) something went wrong with the transmission (this covers a lot of professional gaffes, which is good when the person you are accusing is your client), or (b) they have been too busy to respond (which means you should "annoy" them anyway -- busy people like to be gadflied with important items), or (c) they are intentionally ignoring you, which means you should assume #1 or #2 anyway.

Re:personal or business

[nine-times]

The same applies to improtance. ohh yea, the importance flag in outlook is of no use whatsoever because an emergency on your part, doesnt' mean an emergency on mine, unless your a client in which case see above.

Agh! E-mail "priorities". In my experience, anything marked "!" important was absolutely not important at all. I used to work for a company where some people would set that on every single e-mail they sent, no matter the content. I ignored it for a while, and then I set a casual rule for myself that anything with a little red exclamation mark next to it got ignored for 10 minutes minimum. Still, it annoyed me, so I made inbox rules to reverse any priorities (setting e-mails marked "low" to "high" and vice versa).

That was all well and good until my boss walked by and noticed all his e-mails were marked low priority. "Oh... huh, you didn't set them low priority? I just thought you were being considerate to my schedule. Must be some kinda bug!"

I disagree

[Anonymous Coward]

We're the Cut'n'paste generation. We don't really think about what we write before putting 'pen to paper' anymore for the following reasons:

1. You can cut'n'paste you sentances to make some resemblance of ordered thought.
2. You can get a quick response, so if you're imprecise, you'll know about it quicker.

So basically latency has plummeted, but we're probably less efficient at doing things than we used to be before all this 'new fangled technology'.

Am I going to read this comment through? Do a spellcheck? nope, I'm going to spin in out, with it's imprecision, flaws and ambiguity, for I know that someone else will pick up on those point very rapidly and therefore I do not need to bother...

Re:I disagree

[Reziac]

An AC makes some insightful side points, which I'll quote for the +2 masses:

======
We're the Cut'n'paste generation. We don't really think about what we write before putting 'pen to paper' anymore for the following reasons:

1. You can cut'n'paste you sentances to make some resemblance of ordered thought.
2. You can get a quick response, so if you're imprecise, you'll know about it quicker.

So basically latency has plummeted, but we're probably less efficient at doing things than we used to be before all this 'new fangled technology'.

Am I going to read this comment through? Do a spellcheck? nope, I'm going to spin in out, with it's imprecision, flaws and ambiguity, for I know that someone else will pick up on those point very rapidly and therefore I do not need to bother...
======

Unfortunately, this is very accurate. The digital age has made the hurried, poorly-thought-out, flung-to-the-winds reply that much easier to commit, as any flamewar veteran can attest.

The nearest pen-and-paper equivalent would be to read only the first line of each snailmail letter received, then reply by scribbling on postcards, right three at the post office, and immediately throwing them into the Outgoing Mail slot.

Re:I disagree

[The Amazing Fish Boy]

An AC makes some insightful side points, which I'll quote for the +2 masses:

And I'll quote this bad boy for those of you that have "Insightful" posts modded down, and anyone that has added me as a "Friend"

We're the Cut'n'paste generation. We don't really think about what we write before putting 'pen to paper' anymore for the following reasons:

1. You can cut'n'paste you sentances to make some resemblance of ordered thought.
2. You can get a quick response, so if you're imprecise, you'll know about it quicker.


So basically latency has plummeted, but we're probably less efficient at doing things than we used to be before all this 'new fangled technology'.

Am I going to read this comment through? Do a spellcheck? nope, I'm going to spin in out, with it's imprecision, flaws and ambiguity, for I know that someone else will pick up on those point very rapidly and therefore I do not need to bother...
======

Unfortunately, this is very accurate. The digital age has made the hurried, poorly-thought-out, flung-to-the-winds reply that much easier to commit, as any flamewar veteran can attest.

The nearest pen-and-paper equivalent would be to read only the first line of each snailmail letter received, then reply by scribbling on postcards, right three at the post office, and immediately throwing them into the Outgoing Mail slot.

Re:I disagree

[Reziac]

This has the makings of a chain letter :)

I treat email like I treat my phone

[Geekboy(Wizard)]

I ignore them until I want an interrupt, then I deal with them in the priority *I* give them. I do not acknowledge how important you think it is (or how important you think you are). If they come to my desk, I tell them "I'm in the middle of something, and will get to your email/call soon".

Responsiveness Image

[iamlucky13]

So what is the "responsiveness image" presented by this article, considering it's an anonymous submission linking to a Wordpress blog that appears to have been created soley for the purpose of presenting a 2nd-hand discussion of a paper published 3 years ago? The part that really confuses me is the lack of ads.

Tyler, J. R. & Tang, J. C. (2003). When Can I Expect an Email Response? A Study of Rhythms in Email Usage. Proceedings from ECSCW '03: European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, 239- 258.

URGENT: PROBLEM!

[poopie]

Hey, I just wanted to get a quick reply out to you to let you know that I read your comment. I'll post more in detail later, I have a meeting I need to get to.

Hi Eln,

Thanks so much for your prompt response. This is now urgent! I'm cc'ing all of the dev managers and the VPs of developments so that we can all track your responses to this issue. Please respond to all ASAP!!!

Oh, can we set up a meeting tonight at 8pm to discuss your findings? I've added this to everyone's calendar - I realize that this is short notice, but attendance is mandatory.

If anyone has any thoughts, ideas, random musings, opinions, or collateral information please respond.

Thanks everyone!

Bob
Senior SCSSACP
TPS report generation, QLDT division
AGAAP
email: bob@corp.com
fax: 1-212-212-1212
Mobile: 1-212-212-1223
Telex: TP-10925645
Pager: bob7979797@pagingservice.com
GPS coordinates: N36 06.285', W114 46.655'
IM: hotlovr69@msn.com
What I'm currently listening to: Mr. T - Respect yo Mama

The opinions epressed in the above email represent my opinion and do not represent the opinion of my company or management. This communication from corp.com may contain forward looking statements or confidential information and must not be forwarded or archived.

--

THIS MESSAGE WAS SENT FROM MY BLACKBERRY

--
THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN SCANNED BY AVG-PRO AND FOUND TO BE VIRUS FREE

Re:URGENT: PROBLEM!

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, I just wanted to let you know you forgot to attach the TPS cover sheet.

Re:URGENT: PROBLEM!

[Solder Fumes]

You are SO channeling seven or eight of my bosses right now.

Re:Priority...

[ZeroExistenZ]

I can assume that a code-monkey who spends his time writing the latest and greatest new program can maybe concentrate on his job at hand for a few hours before dealing with emails.

I write code for a living. My mail-box has typical content like:

• Customer X has problems with a new bug. Please fix.
• I added a bug, please check bugtracker
• FEAUTURE REQUEST! I'd like gizmo special ultra -requires massive redesign- by tomorrow. I saw it somewhere and want it too -Boss
• Meeting at xx/xx/xx about new planned software. Prepare visualizations and analys.
• Manual needed for program in alpha fase. Can you write it? I don't have time for it, too busy on support.
• We wont buy and implement the Novell meta-database. You were on the meeting with Novell, can you make something with the same functionality? Make an analys asap, so we can discuss it.
• I'm still waiting for the update. Customer is growing impatient, CANT YOU JUST QUICKLY UPDATE THE INSTALLER?
• Can you put down a description of the issues we adressed in last meeting? So we can approve the core idea's before you start coding.
• BUG FOUND!! (bug proves to be user configuration-error, described in manual)
• I know product X-version 4 seems to be near completion. But I we might migrate to Linux. I know at first we wanted to use ASP.NET v2.0 (did you use that?) But would it be much work to translate it into PHP? We could cut license-costs that way. These things shouldn't be too hard to translate.
• What's the status on program xzy? The deadline is closing.
• In the meeting we discussed the use case where a new database could solve the problem. Can you design the database, so we can decide to go with it or to drop it? You can skip the specific columns to save time, just make sure you have all the 100 tables we brainstormed about and keep flexibility so we can expand if needed. Can this be done by next week? It would be clearer if you'd explain each table again as a reference.

Trust me, I often don't get around coding as much as I'd want to myself.

Depends who's pushing buttons, too.

[ackthpt]

I have 8 people that work in my Unit. When I send out an email to the group needing an immediate response, I know that only 2 will respond right away (assuming they are at their desk).

I've had a request to "send" "data" to someone, with a deadline of thursday for a few weeks now. It began, "OK, fine, no worries just tell me what data you need and in what format." No response. The owner of this project starts sending me colour-coded emails. "Urgent send data" I reply to him, "Give me an idea which items you need and in what form to send it." I get back "put it in an excel spread sheed, I don't know, here talk to this person xxxxxx@xxxxx.org" I email their contact and a week goes by. I get another urgent email. I reply I still don't have any spec or specifics and get another email. I send out a query to that one. Days pass and nothing. Finally I'm getting orange (which I presume is more urgent than red) and another plea to "send data soon, deadline approaching." I reply, to the entire list of those cc'd with the plea. "these people need to contact me, I need specifics, I don't just send "data" any old way." Finally someone kicks the people at xxxxx.org in the pants and they phone. Bam! It's taken care of in mere minutes. Got exactly what they needed.

So why did it take so long?