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By khalid on September 9, 2007 11:40 pm
Posted in (Miscellaneous)

These words might sound a little funny coming from me. Yes I am someone who checks his email tens of times everyday (according to the 4 hour week; I’m wasting  a lot of valuable time doing so!).  And I do carry a smart phone to make sure I do not miss a single email. But don’t get me wrong; I do not hate email because it is taking over my life. I hate email because as easy it is to use, it is not always the best way to communicate. I can not tell you how many times I told Ayat I would love to stop everyone in invesp from using email (or chat for that matter!).

It is not immediate: Email can be one of the worst ways to communicate when thing need to get the job done right away, You send the email and can only hope that the recipient checked his email and that he already started working on the task. How many times did you hear the excuse, “Woops! I didn’t check my email”. Or even worse, how about when your email lands in the spam folder? Chris sends me his guest blogs regularly and although he is in contact list, outlook insists on putting Chris’s email in the spam folder. Sorry Chris, my outlook has a mind of its own!

It does not build a relationship: I communicate with other bloggers via email regularly. However when I want to take the relationship to the next level, a phone call is the way to go. I smiled when I read Dawud Miracle wrote that we should forget email and pick up the phone.

There is more to communication than words: I remember reading that the value of communication is effected 70% by body language, 20% by the tone of the voice and only 10% by the actual words used to communicate. With email, you completely lose the body language and tone of voice factors. That means that your communication is only at 10% effectiveness! How many times did you send an email that was completely misunderstood, did not communicate exactly what you wanted, or was taken out of context?

Things can go bad real quickly with email: My first project fresh out of college was with a government client. The work was a lot of fun and challenging. However, there was a huge cultural difference between the consulting company I worked for and the government agency. One way or another, the technical teams flamed each other via email on regular basis. These angry emails did not help the relationship with the client at all. Whether angry emails come back to hunt or not, I follow the 24 hour rule before sending an angry email (the cooling off period).

80% of the emails I receive are useless: And I am not talking about all the spam we receive. How many of the regular emails you receive are a must read? I also discovered that most of the time sends me an email with a title urgent, it is most likely urgent for them and not for me.

So, here it is. These are the reasons I hate email.  So, tell me why do you hate email? Yes, I am implying that everyone does ;)

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8 Responses to “ I hate email”

 
Kelly Rusk Says -- September 10th, 2007 at 9:15 am

I have to disagree – I love email. Here’s a few reasons why:

1. Less disruptive – You’re working on something important, in the groove, and all of the sudden, the phone rings. No matter who it is, and what kind of great news they are ringing about, you start off with a bad attitude about it.

2. Paper trail – Sometimes I speak to people on the phone and give or receive instructions. A couple minutes later I hang up the phone and forget important details. (Yea I could write it down, but it’s 100 times easier in an email)

3. Some people communicate better in writing – I’m definitely one of them.

Some of the reasons you mentioned are definitely very valid points, and I have my irks about email, but I definitely could not live without it!

 
khalid Says -- September 10th, 2007 at 9:31 am

Hi Kelly,

okay, maybe I do not hate email that much. I can not imagine my life without it :)

I think it is a tool that is misused by many people. One of things I do with phone calls is send an email afterwords summarizing everything that was agreed on during the call, any remaining issues and next steps. That way I make sure we have a paper trail of the call.

 
Ayat Says -- September 12th, 2007 at 11:46 am

I see where you are coming from Kelly. E-mail is great because you have the information in print rather than trying to remember the details of the conversation. Yet when I do speak to a client or a partner, our communication is way more effective via phone. How many times have I been misunderstood via e-mail? TOo many to make that mistake again! ANd like Khalid said, following up with a paper trail will just confirm the points.

 
Neena Says -- September 17th, 2007 at 10:06 pm

I also read Dawud’s post at eMoms at Home and have to agree. Email is a good first step to business relationship building but it is that actual phone call that creates commitment. And the paper trail can be a double edged sword, as Ayat points out – email can be misunderstood. Perhaps something you write is interpreted incorrectly, you don’t have immediate access to the reader to explain yourself.

 
Ayat Says -- September 17th, 2007 at 10:35 pm

That’s the biggest problem I have with e-mail: misinterpretation! Especially when I’m communicating with team members within the company because somehow, we always end up resorting to e-mail! Everyone is either busy or in a meeting, and too many times, the clarification of the e-mail takes up more time than if I had tried to explain the situation over the phone the first time around! I guess it’s easier said than done!

 
Costa Rica Real Estate Jack Says -- September 19th, 2007 at 1:40 am

For me, e-mailing has been a great tool to communicate with my family and friends. With all due respect for those people who do not find this as easy,comfortable, and convenient, I think this is much better compared to what has been through before the modern day begins. And I think there will be coming much of high end communication stratagem in the future days. This is inevible.

 
khalid Says -- September 19th, 2007 at 8:27 am

oh, email is great for family and friends. It is even great at work. The only problem I have is when people use email at work instead of picking up the phone to get things done!

 
Lucio Says -- September 30th, 2007 at 7:48 am

Khalid,
I’m afraid I need to disagree. I understand your point, and if you allow me to add, I don’t hate the tool I hate the use of the tool.
Cheers
Lucio

 

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