Slashdot Mirror
'No, You Can't Ignore Email. It's Rude.' (nytimes.com)
Yes, we're all overwhelmed with email. One recent survey suggested that the average American's inbox has 199 unread messages. But volume isn't an excuse for not replying. Ignoring email is an act of incivility, reads an opinion piece. From the story: "I'm too busy to answer your email" really means "Your email is not a priority for me right now." That's a popular justification for neglecting your inbox: It's full of other people's priorities. But there's a growing body of evidence that if you care about being good at your job, your inbox should be a priority. When researchers compiled a huge database of the digital habits of teams at Microsoft, they found that the clearest warning sign of an ineffective manager was being slow to answer emails. Responding in a timely manner shows that you are conscientious -- organized, dependable and hardworking. And that matters. In a comprehensive analysis of people in hundreds of occupations, conscientiousness was the single best personality predictor of job performance. (It turns out that people who are rude online tend to be rude offline, too.)
I'm not saying you have to answer every email. Your brain is not just sitting there waiting to be picked. If senders aren't considerate enough to do their homework and ask a question you're qualified to answer, you don't owe them anything back. How do you know if an email you've received -- or even more important, one you're considering writing -- doesn't deserve a response? After all, sending an inappropriate email can be as rude as ignoring a polite one. [...] Whatever boundaries you choose, don't abandon your inbox altogether. Not answering emails today is like refusing to take phone calls in the 1990s or ignoring letters in the 1950s. Email is not household clutter and you're not Marie Kondo. Ping!
I'm not saying you have to answer every email. Your brain is not just sitting there waiting to be picked. If senders aren't considerate enough to do their homework and ask a question you're qualified to answer, you don't owe them anything back. How do you know if an email you've received -- or even more important, one you're considering writing -- doesn't deserve a response? After all, sending an inappropriate email can be as rude as ignoring a polite one. [...] Whatever boundaries you choose, don't abandon your inbox altogether. Not answering emails today is like refusing to take phone calls in the 1990s or ignoring letters in the 1950s. Email is not household clutter and you're not Marie Kondo. Ping!
Let me correct the thinking in the title here. "Yes I can. No it isn't." There we go.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
One skill needed for effective management is good organization.
An overflowing inbox is a sign of difficulty with this skill.
How hard is it to "archive"? You don't have to have a fancy folder structure. Most email applications today have an "archive" feature.
If you can't deal with it now, send a quick note saying you can't, and move on. Then archive the email.
Bob needs a trace of office work requests, proof that he's doing his work.
You trying to avoid this traceability indicates you're either a slacker or a liar.
If you want something from me, send me an email. I'll read it during work hours, maybe today, maybe tomorrow.
If you need me to read it faster, send me an SMS. I'll read it in an hour if I am not sleeping.
If you need something from me RIGHT NOW, call me. As a bonus, you will know immediately whether I can talk to you right now and whether I now know about your problem.
Email conversation is slow, even if I reply you instantly, you will probably take some time to reply, which will stretch out our conversation (say, 5 emails each) to a whole day or maybe two days. So, if you are writing an email, then it is not that urgent to you.
I don't think a timely response is as important as one you have considered. Once it is out there, its gone and you can't take it back.
With email there is some time to respond, not immediately unless it really has to be that way.
When people see thought in the response it's a good sign you've considered what they had to say.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
An average of 199 unread messages and all of them unwanted newsletters and spam.
Get a better spam filter. I see a spam email less than once a week.
As far as I know 48 hours is the default time period to allow for an email recipient to respond.
Agreed. My counterpoint to the article - don't send emails demanding other people's attention unless you have reason to believe that *they* would want to interact with you.
It's far more rude to carelessly demand someone else's attention in the first place than it is to ignore such demands. Attention is a precious resource, paying attention to something disrupts what I'm doing, and sacrifices a slice of my life that I can never get back.
If you do email me, be concise: tell me what you want, and why I should want to give it to you. And do so in as few words as possible because every word I read is costing me a moment of my life. Show that you respect my time and attention, or don't expect me to treat you with any greater respect.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.