This morning I started to show my age while chatting to Daniel. We were comparing the horror stories that are our inboxes and how our mornings were taken up replying to emails.
My first email address was given to me at University and it was really difficult to remember the address as it was full of numbers and odd letters; I had to write it down and carry it around with me. I used to check my inbox every couple of weeks on campus and wasn’t really enthused to check it more as I only ever had tedious emails from my lecturers containing course notes. How things have moved on since then…….
We realised that we both had our first email addresses at the same time and, although he quickly assumed that we were the same age (much to my disgust), I was pleased to point out that I was actually few years younger than him.
I then began to reminisce about the days before email and wondering what it would be like in the office if we stopped using it. Would the fax machine be constantly out of paper (no change there!)? Would the telephones never stop ringing and would the postman bring the post by truck?
Gosh, we might even have to start talking to each other in the office, which would mean walking up flights of stairs every time I wanted to talk to Breda about venue arrangements or Danny about creating yet another mailing list. Imagine – that would mean speaking to them in person and I may even have to say pretty please. And I’d be forced to walk up the four flights of stairs to the penthouse suite to talk to Paul and Mary. On this evidence, email definitely makes my life easier!
A few weeks ago we took some time out to attend a workshop about becoming an email exemplar. We spent an interactive hour with Bob Hallewell from Expert Messaging to learn about how to manage our emails more effectively and, ultimately, how to save ourselves some time. The session was great food for thought and provoked some good team discussions.
The next day I found myself writing more precise emails. I cut out all the jargon and abbreviations, stopped hitting the reply to all button and turned off my email alert button which meant I could concentrate on doing some ‘real’ work. This worked well for a few days until my inbox of unread emails increased into the hundreds and then I was back into my old habits of sloppy emailing.
But one thing I did notice from ignoring my inbox is that your colleagues do start calling you more. If only just to check that you are working and not having an unofficial duvet day. Hmm.
Emily
Learning Pool's Blog 