Oh, I'm not "blindly reject[ing] it." I've used it in the past. That's why I refuse to use it for any of my projects. What the coders do amongst themselves is up to them.
I have found that in many cases, with IM available, newer, less experienced coders fire off questions with little to no thought (not checking email, notes, etc.) given to the problem at hand. Email slows this stream of questioning and also works just as well for your IM example. Oh, and with the seasoned P/As, the IMs were pretty much, "hey, are you there? I'm coming up to talk." A little more convenient than picking up the phone, but hardly essential.
If people see IM as a tool, they'll use it properly. Unfortunately, many of the new kids we hire see it as a social device and/or as an all-knowing oracle.
As a lead architect, I find IM to be exceptionally annoying. I refuse to use it. If my programmers are too lazy to get off their fat asses to ask questions in person, most likely the question is of the variety, "I don't want to think for myself, what's the answer?"
Use it for "quick conversations without leaving the desk?" Have you heard of this wonderful invention by Antonio Meucci called the telephone? Most people I know and work with have one of these things.
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Oh, I'm not "blindly reject[ing] it." I've used it in the past. That's why I refuse to use it for any of my projects. What the coders do amongst themselves is up to them.
I have found that in many cases, with IM available, newer, less experienced coders fire off questions with little to no thought (not checking email, notes, etc.) given to the problem at hand. Email slows this stream of questioning and also works just as well for your IM example. Oh, and with the seasoned P/As, the IMs were pretty much, "hey, are you there? I'm coming up to talk." A little more convenient than picking up the phone, but hardly essential.
If people see IM as a tool, they'll use it properly. Unfortunately, many of the new kids we hire see it as a social device and/or as an all-knowing oracle.
As a lead architect, I find IM to be exceptionally annoying. I refuse to use it. If my programmers are too lazy to get off their fat asses to ask questions in person, most likely the question is of the variety, "I don't want to think for myself, what's the answer?"
Use it for "quick conversations without leaving the desk?" Have you heard of this wonderful invention by Antonio Meucci called the telephone? Most people I know and work with have one of these things.