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Are you struggling to keep up with all the email you receive? Is email totally broken as a productivity tool?
Two recent posts by Fred Wilson and MG Siegler about their frustration with email glut serve as a jumping off point for Martin Waxman, Gini Dietrich and Joseph Thornley to discuss the challenge of making email serve our needs.
Also noted this week: Shel Israel, co-author of Naked Conversations, has a new book, Stellar Presentations: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Giving Great Talks, published via Amazon’s publishing program. It’s a useful book with lots of practical tips for anyone who has to pitch a business or convey a new idea to an audience.
And this was also the podcast we recorded on Gini Dietrich’s birthday. If you want to join in her birthday greetings, check out this happy birthday post from Jack Bauer, Gini’s dog. Happy birthday Gini!
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Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.
Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.
This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.
Email is a horrible time-eater. However, when I was working in an agency, people tended to use email as their PMC as it was quick and they didn’t have to explain everything to everybody more than once. Plus, nobody could make an excuse that they didn’t hear about something when it was mailed to them.
When I don’t have much time I prefer people sending me emails rather than calling me. You don’t spend much time chitchatting and have the luxury of getting back to it when you have more time.
The black hole of email is not an isolated case. Facebook, as I have recently discovered, has an inbox black hole of its own.
oh, I nearly forgot…Happy Birthday Gini!! 🙂
LOL! Thanks Petra!
I agree with you…and the Facebook email is an entirely different discussion. Because it’s on a different platform, you have to be diligent about transferring the needs to your own email platform. Oy.
It’s not really email that is the problem it is how people use it. For many, it becomes a means of deflecting responsibility and personal contact.
At the same time, it was adopted much faster than we were able to develop processes and rules for how to use it.
I think what Gini is doing with her team is great and it’s what I would recommend to every workplace – proactively discuss how you should communicate and how email fits into that. Take the time to discuss how you can use subject lines to save time and cut through the clutter in the inbox. Discuss when the “important” label should and shouldn’t be used.
But I’d like to conclude by saying that people need to forgive themselves and not let their inbox rule their lives because it’s a problem that isn’t going to go away anytime soon!
Danny, You go to the heart of the matter when you focus on people and like how Gini discusses with her team how they will use email. As I read your comment I realized that the use of email is a product of the culture of an organization. And we can shape it – with patience and consistency.