Wednesday 2 July 2008

E-mail: A communication tool for one on one conversations of a sensitive, private or confidential nature

Unless you have been living in cave, you'll know that Luis has been giving up (or rather changing how he uses) corporate email. However, this is worth quoting from his most recent update:

"... I have never mentioned that e-mail is dead! I am just saying that it needs to be re-purposed and used for what it was meant to be in the first place: A communication tool for one on one conversations of a sensitive, private or confidential nature. The rest should be going out there, in the open, in the public space(s), transparent and with an opportunity for everyone to contribute! Notice that I am differentiating quite clearly between communication and collaboration, because they are not the same, no matter what people say about it!"

With the weight of evidence on Luis' side, is it time for us to update the definition of email? And perhaps at the same time we can dump all those email "dieting" tips, techniques and training courses? BTW I've made my thoughts about dealing with e-mail in an article, called For better, or worse: Living with e-mail in the workplace.

1 comment:

  1. I think the "email detox" stuff (where organisations go for a day without email) can give this issue some attention but ultimately it is about using the appropriate tools for your needs. It requires people getting a bit sophisticated tho...

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