The Tyranny of Email

So a theme I have been hearing lately is how much people are getting bogged down by email. Another theme that has been present lately is 'I sent so and so an email (or two or three...) and they have not responded to me yet. I am fairly certain that this is due to the first theme I mentioned. Email is an incredible tool, but we have gotten to a place where we (at least a lot of us) are getting overwhelmed by the mass quantities that we get. It brought to mind this article by Ole Eichhorn. Originally sent to be by a friend at work, I found it on the ChangeThis website. A few of the points that I like from this manifesto are:

• We have the ability to control email, but we often let email control us. We do this by keeping the notifier on so that we immediately know when an email has arrived. Although this may be viewed as being proactive, it has huge implications on productivity. If you set scheduled time each day to view your email, you will actually be more productive because you will be able to focus on tasks instead of being interrupted by emails.
• Never use Email to deliver a message that needs to be handled in person. For example - never criticize, counsel or get involved in debates via emails. I want to add a little here. If you have a conversation that is going on via email, I would suggest picking up the phone or setting up a brief meeting. I have seen it all too often where debates or conversations done via email polarize the people. Feelings get hurt and tones are misinterpreted. Don't forget that we were designed with a mouth and ears for a reason. Don't forget to use them too.
• Remember that email is a permanent public record. One that can be easily shared and brought back. Even though you think you have deleted it, it is still on the senders pc as well as the servers it went through to get to you. If the material you are sending should never be viewed by the public, don't send it via email.

Anyway - enough of my commentary - check out the article!