Managing by eMail

Work has become nuts with so many meetings and activities going on at the same time. As a result I have noticed an increasing trend of what I am calling “Managing by eMail” which is people sending out long emails with information that is clearly better suited for a conversation. Here is why I think this is a bad idea…

• Intent gets misconstrued – since there is no emotion or expressions in an email the intent could be taken the wrong way
• Ineffective – most people get hundreds of emails a day and many are not good about keeping up with them so it cannot be verified that it has been read and understood
• Impersonal – Hard to build relationships via eMail
• Suggests a lower priority – important items should be phone calls and this would be buried in with the hundreds of other messages

Not the best way to manage all work

eMails are good for follow ups, low priority items and quick tasks but it is not the way to manage work. As much as I hate having many meetings, they are much more effective at managing the work and building relationshios

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