Hear No Evil, See No Evil — E-mail Kills the Phone 155
coondoggie writes to tell us that in a recent study e-mail has overtaken telephony as the most common workplace communication tool. "Research reveals that 100% of the end-users surveyed use e-mail, followed by fixed-line telephones (80%), mobile telephones (76%) and instant messaging (66%). The study points out the three most ubiquitous technologies increase productivity the most. Over 70% of the end-users surveyed say e-mail impacts positively on their productivity, followed by conventional fixed-line telephony (53%) and mobile telephony (52%). From a productivity point-of-view, the research shows that instant messaging, blogs and softphones are considered most disruptive, and could negatively impact productivity if not managed properly."
E-mail survey, right? (Score:5, Funny)
Research reveals that 100% of the end-users surveyed use e-mail
Let me guess. They did the survey via e-mail.
Re:E-mail survey, right? (Score:5, Insightful)
We'll they're better off doing it that way then by phone. It's not like I answer my phone for any number I don't recognize.
For just about anything I prefer chatting, e-mail, or any other electronic method as my time isn't 100% devoted to a single person. I can do 100 other things while responding to electronic messages. With a phone call my attention is solely with one person and that's just not a good way to operate for MOST functions of my day.
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But I do agree with you there. If it's a number I don't know, it gets assigned as unimportant if I'm busy; I can check my voicemail later. A phone call could take anywhere from a minute to half an hour, whereas an email reply takes maybe a minute (although there may be more emails to send, one minute can be sacrificed here and there, but half an hour is too much time to devote to one nonessential thing).
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Unfortunately it's the nature of my job.
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Well, aren't I glad I live in Europe.
I don't need to opt out; I just send a code to deactivate it, and each and every provider gives you the list of their codes for most common operations.
Here, if people want to leave you a message when you don't pick up the phone (or just prefer not to talk to you), they send a text message. I don't know a single person who uses voicemail. Ever.
Re:E-mail survey, right? (Score:5, Insightful)
If I'm working on something I can check emails when it won't affect my ability to get work done. If I'm constantly answering the phone I never get anything done.
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Damn straight. Especially when it is for something trivial. I've gotten to where I hate the damn thing. Unless I'm calling someone else of course....
But still I try to get with them by email first and give them a day. That stupid phone is demanding, insistent, "interrupt driven", and if someone is calling me it better be good. And if their call is no
Reminds me of our new VOIP system (Score:5, Interesting)
The things are crap (you have to sign into them every morning
By my unofficial count, I'd say something like 30-50 percent of the office is doing the same thing, either intentionally or just because they can't remember to sign into the phones in the morning. I think it's actually boosted productivity -- nobody uses the phones to call around the office anymore, unless they've already sent an email or an IM to see if the person is available on the other end.
Maybe they're not so bad after all...
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Which model of phone are you using? We've got models 7912 and 7960 here. I don't recall them possessing any ability to require logins before functioning. We're a VOIP developer/provider and use our own SIP proxies and gateways, so that might make a difference. I know that we're not running the Cisco call management software.
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I use bitlbee for IM (I use GTalk and AIM primarily) and those don't interrupt me at all. In fact, they can sit there infinitely just like an e-mail if I choose.
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The only issue was the former cow-orker who would call me on the phone and when I didn't answer, would immediately IM "u there? i want to call".
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Glad I don't work with you. Well, I don't know where you work, but I don't work with a bunch of people who waste my time. A few clients do this, yes, but hey, they're paying us a bunch of money.
People have learned not to call me unless it's important.
Flawed survey-result logic... (Score:3, Interesting)
Bullsh*t (Score:3, Insightful)
We are apparently supposed to conclude that 20% of the people in business do not have telephone service?
I am guessing telephone service in business is 100% as well. Now, we could make a similarly arbitrary distinction between email gotten via pop3 through a desktop client and IMAP email gotten through a desktop client and pop3 through a web client adn IMAP through a web client and I bet all four of those would fall below land lines in adoption.
Discussed this with my boss... (Score:5, Insightful)
There may be a record (via phone company) of when a call took place, what number was dialed, and how long it took...
That last part is hard to do with a phone conversation, legally anyway.
=Smidge=
Re:Discussed this with my boss... (Score:5, Interesting)
which is why my manager at my last job would always call me, or stop by my cube or grab me as I walked by in the hall instead of email whenever she wanted to ensure that whatever idiotic thing she wanted done (the joys of being a network security guy) could not be traced back to her. But, I'd send her a note about it each time anyway. I like having my get out of jail free card. "just to verify, you wanted me to do $foo, and understand the implications, right?"
My current boss does that. (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't forget that in a lot of email systems I can tell when you've opened my email and whether you deleted it or not.
Email is its own paper trail AND with magical CYA powers. And that really annoys a certain type of personality.
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There is the law, and then there is corporate practice. Tell my boss about SOX and he is likely to have you fired before he starts documenting some of what they do.
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Why do you put up with it? Not a company wide problem, deeply embedded in the culture, just one or 2 managers? But if that's all it is, why not complain about those managers? If it is the whole company, why stay? Is it that finding another job is hard, and a pain, what with maybe having to move? Job market is bad, despite what everyone is saying? Or, don't want the troubles that come with being a whistleblower? Or you aren't putting up with it, but you're not quite ready to move yet?
One thing I rea
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When ever I get a new developer the first thing I tell him or her is that forget the email, call me instead.
Triumvirate Communicae (Score:5, Informative)
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even tho' it may seem funny, it is the reality in a lot of places.
Wish I had mod points.
3 forms of communication, 1 point of failure (Score:2)
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Not a verifiable record (Score:3, Informative)
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Or... (Score:2)
Not really (Score:2)
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As I understand it, it's perfectly legal to record any conversation to which you are a party, as long as it's stated up front before any recording takes place. "This conversation may be recorded for quality purposes" in Direct Marketing and all that jazz.
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It's the Wally method of covering your ass!
=Smidge=
Slashdot Editors Forget (Score:2, Insightful)
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What is this landline phone you speak of?
I refused to use chat for years, but for interoffice communications, its quicker than email, and better than shouting "hey, what's that url again?"
IM is great for sending URLs. (Score:2)
Although something like TinyURL within the intranet would probably be handy (the IT security people seem to really hate it when people use the public one...), the way people were usually sending URLs around was just by pasting the
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Its also great for "stalking" - most people have their IM client start up automatically when they boot their computer, so you know when they're in the office, even when you aren't.
So what's with this "Online - Invisible" bit - who do they think they're fooling, marking themselves as "Online - Invisible"? Its like little kids who thing that because they can't see you, you can't see them. Hmmm, maybe its just a Windows thing ...
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I'm not shocked... (Score:5, Interesting)
Let's say someone was visiting me and there a traffic advisory, or something else they would need to index later. I would phone first, then text an instruction block to the phone. Same when grocery of component shopping.
And messaging when someone is not around, e-mail is so much better than voice. Mobile phones are not always reliable to relay all the important words, and some people on land lines use really crappy answering machines, but an e-mail will always get the message out.
E-mail is more important than phone these days. That's rather a fact of life. Welcome to the 21st century, where no one has to talk to anyone.
Re:I'm not shocked... (Score:4, Insightful)
I love email for this very reason. Somebody asks me a question over the phone, if I don't have an immediate answer ready I have to get their contact information. That can be a pain in the butt, especially if we have a bad phone connection(It happens).
With email, if I have the info I dump it into the email and send it off to them. I even tend to keep a 'faq' listing for that very purpose(no, I don't make it public, because I'm supposed to be providing the 'personal touch', and customize the answers a bit for the customer's exact situation). If I need to collect it, no big deal, I have their contact information right there. It's in my queue, so to speak.
Unfortunately, most of my answers require research at this point because I just shifted positions and am still learning my new job.
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Let's say I wanted to ask someone a question, a simple question with no real need for an immediate reply. I send an e-mail. If I were to use regular phone, I have to deal with polite conversation which I may or may not have time for. Not that I don't mind idle conversation, it's just something I don't always want to deal with.
I totally agree with the need for social talk on the phone, e-mail is often much more to-the-point, and that can take time.
But then, e-mail is also much less personal. The "human touch" is gone. And I find that to actually make a deal, this human touch is a necessity. OK dealing with China that may be stronger than with Americans, still it's a very important part of human communication that gets lost in e-mail.
In my business I find e-mail a great tool to get the first contact, followed up by a phone cal
obvious (Score:4, Insightful)
Probably because those three things are more typically used for personal reasons, not business reasons. It's not so much a problem with the tools, but the use. If they became more widely integrated into the workplace, they wouldn't be considered "disruptive".
At any rate, if you have employees that are good at managing their own workflow, you don't have to worry about clamping down on "disruptive" technology.
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Because it's entirely telling that telephones are considered to be "productive", while IM is considered to be "disruptive". I've worked in an office where IM was used to great effect. not only can you have an almost telephone-quality conversation, but you can do other things that you can't to on the telephone, such as transfer files, communicate QUIETLY without having to
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Reasons? (Score:5, Insightful)
It is easier to plan, revise and think-out email.
People are nervous about speaking.
E-mail leaves the ever-important trail to use against people later.
You're already using the computer, so it seems like an extra effort at times to switch tasks to the phone.
And this is the biggest supposition on my part, but it seems that people "look forward" to getting email, where as they feel annoyed anytime the phone rings.
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Yes, I realize that that you can fax images but, having worked for a building supply company, an electronic image that doesn't get lost, crumpled or have coffee spilled on it is often much more convenient, especially since all of our ordering and pricing was done on computers.
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Also, transcription (of anything, from phone numbers to prescriptions) is error-prone. With email I always copy and paste rather than transcribe, but voicemail obviously precludes that.
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and no I don't own an iPhone. it's too pricey for me and I don't like AT&T edge enough to actually pay for it.
Re:Reasons? (Score:4, Interesting)
You can't (at least, not right now that I know of) interview for a job by email.
I always hate just emailing important things to other people. You can leave an email sit there, but you have to answer a phone call, or at least acknowledge that you know of the issue. An email can simply be discarded as "Oh, I haven't read that one yet". I prefer to phone to talk, and any important details get emailed. Any non-important issues are emailed, with a follow up call when they (invariably) haven't got back to me within a week.
Maybe it is just where I work, but I can't rely on other people to read emails, despite it being corporate policy.
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I've worked for three major corporations, and all of them have been big on read receipts to track email, where as people can say, "oh, I didn't check my voice mail yet" just as easily as they can say they haven't read their email yet. However with a read receipt, you can verify if that is true.
Perception of read receipts as a spammer tool (Score:2)
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If my boss can't depend on me to be professional enough to read my emails (i.e., do my job) without having to check up on me with email flags, then I don't want to work for that person.
On the flipside, my employees (all less than 10 of them) are expected to use email. Ignoring email, or hiding behind "technolog
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All a "read receipt" tag does is confirm an e-mail has been opened. There is nothing confirming if it was read, understood, followed up on, etc; only management skill can do that. When I'm quickly going through hundreds of emails, I can easily open a "read receipt" email and quickly disregard it as not important and delete it without reading it.
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The extra bits in voice mail (Score:2)
[VOICEMAIL]
"Um. Hi. Yeah. How are you? I just wanted to call to touch base and see how you were doing. Give me a call when you get a chance. Talk to you soon. Buy."
[Me]
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz
[EMAIL]
Hey, whats up?
Email wins.
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Here.. I'll help you with your next fix.
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Such a simple feature! Why hasn't EVERY cell phone done this before (or yet)?
Oh and by the way, excellent post!
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E-mail is relatively new? I had e-mail in college (1988-1992) so forgive me if I don't consider i
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My opinion (Score:5, Insightful)
For this sake I preferred email corrispondance. I could think, sometimes over hours, what I needed to say, and constuctively lay it out how the situation needed.
But the old folks out there... the ones who insist I wear a tie, shine my shoes, shave my face TO SIT BEHIND A DESK, actually told me I was no longer allowed to respond to any issues of ANY kind via email. It had to be by phone.
Seriously, welcome to the 21st century. It is the future. A better mousetrap has been made. Quit making me catch mice with a broomstick and a bucket.
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You sound like the job is beneath you and its their fault. Dick.
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You had a broomstick?! I had to entice the mice into the bucket using a ball of earwax as bait! And after I caught them, I had to call the boss on our interphone system, making sure the string was pulled tight enough for him to hear me.
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Taking this kind of crap from people will create frustrations for yourself. Before you know it, you'll come home somewhat angry and vent it on the gf/wife. Not good!
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Couple that with your unwillingness to shave for a paycheck? Seriously? Dude, you need to be self-employed, and not be in the business of helping people.
To stay on topic, as an Instructional Designe
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In the specific instance of this salesguy I pointed out... he had been with the company oh so many yeas more than me. Back when they didn't have a computer in the whole place. But he was one of the first to get one... after all technology can only help him, right? Wrong. From Office 95->98->2000->XP->2003 it is absolutely NOT ok to NOT know how to insert a picture from a f
Ugh, email (Score:3, Insightful)
- You're a lot more likely to get an answer in a timely manner if you call the person first, and THEN email them if they're not there, than if you just email and wait for a reply. I don't keep outlook open all the time because I find it a nuisance and it crashes all a time; phones don't crash usually.
- It takes longer to write (and to read) an email than to make a phone call.
- You don't get to show off your communication skills (such as bargaining) as much through email as you do on the phone.
Of course, over both of these, I prefer to walk down the hall to the person's cube and talk to them in person, but that seems outdated these days.
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Perhaps you should 1) get an email program that doesn't crash and 2) learn to write well enough to show off communications skills in text.
jabber (Score:2)
email killed the FAX machine (Score:1, Insightful)
Duh... (Score:5, Insightful)
I for one welcome our new SMTP overlords.
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More probably, it's the new MAPI overlords you'll have to welcome.
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I don't seem much mention of "texting." Perhaps that's because "old people" like us use email more than texting one another's phones.
I'll never forget the two "old" guys on the Tonight Show sending a message via CW outpacing the two kids im'ing with "abbreviated" spelling of words. Not that I expect a comeback of CW, but I do expect "texting" to overtake email in the workplace as the workforce gets younger.
I use IM at home, among family and friends; I would use it at work if it were accepted. Email is the norm, though, so I go with that (and use the phone as little as possible.) I do find email preferable, since it's easier to search archives, keep important emails in the inbox as a to-do list etc.
for certain limited definitions of "kill" (Score:4, Insightful)
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Results due mostly to the survey question? (Score:2)
If they had made a survey where the phones were kept as a single category but e-mail was divided into two categories (say a company sponsored server vs. a third party e-mail service like Yahoo) the results would probably have been reversed.
Pretty obvious... (Score:2, Insightful)
And in other news... (Score:1)
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Research? (Score:2)
I find the phone quite disruptive (Score:4, Insightful)
Our phones have this big red light on them when you have a voice mail waiting. Since somebody setup Meridian to ask you for a new voice mail password (one you've not used recently) every... what is it, 6 minutes?.. and since someone leaves me a voice mail once every 6 months.. invariably that light would come on and i'd have no way of getting it to shut off. Well, eventually I just unplugged my phone for a while and luckliy, when I moved desks and plugged it in, the light was gone. Now when people call me and try to leave voice mail, they get this horrible message saying this user hasn't setup their voice mail. Say it along with me in your best mortal combat announcer voice: "Flawless Victory!"
In any case, my phone is effectively a 1 way device. I use it to make non-work-related calls, or to dial into conference calls that aren't using pc/ip based audio streaming.
I'd like to dump the phone altogether and use a soft phone that integrates with an IM client. If I'm sitting at my laptop, we can communicate, and chances are, you'll try IM first.
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In any case, my phone is effectively a 1 way device.
Smart move! I prefer to just tell people that they have the wrong number; our internal directory is enough out of date that they'll believe it and I only give out my number to external people that I really want to call me.
I use it to make non-work-related calls, or to dial into conference calls that aren't using pc/ip based audio streaming.
Having done a lot of conference calls the past few years, the main thing for them to work seems to be to have some sort of screen-sharing set up. Without that, life is painful. And IP-based audio streaming doesn't work too well with such systems alas: very few sites have enough bandwidth
but I thought email was dead? (Score:3, Funny)
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MOD PARENT UP!!1! (Score:2)
There is a pool, right? I bet there is a pool. Full of moist mod points just waiting to be used by horny slashdotters. Ooh.
kinda silly (Score:2)
Not silly, totally bogus dude (Score:2)
If you add fixed and mobile telephony together (Score:2)
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