Hello!
Today I will try to contribute my experience on improving my team collaboration by not using email at work. Communication experts will have much more to contribute to the subject, and sociologists for sure will address the issue of the current generation Y and how it works in a different way…
For my is easy: “I don’t like reading emails“. Don’t get me wrong, the email is an excellent tool. However, in recent years it has become more and more useless tool. I can take from my OneNote notes more than 20 notes about this, let’s start with only 3.
- Many people write emails with much content inside. I mean loooooong emails, if the person or persons who will be directed to this email address, have 100 emails or more per day, they most likely to pass it. This information is “lost” and for every single companies, this is the worst scenario that can happen.
- The timing is also essential, remember emails are only in “output direction channel” for you. Many times an email inside contains too high a level of importance for an asynchronous channel.
- Finally, Please email usually means a “that’s it for me”. I mean, when a person has a responsibility and must share it with someone else, a habitual behavior usually send an email. This is not bad, what is bad is that occasionally when adjusting work we have answers of the type “sent an email to Juan and not responded“. All of this said with the conviction that the act of sending an e-mail was just enough.
In the previous examples the main problem tends to be the feeling of detachment that gives us the email. Those who know football, will know the term “pass the ball”. For a team this is very counterproductive, the opposite we want, we always try to promote team collaboration. Challenging a specific problem, a group of minds becomes a better solution than a single head.
In addition there are behaviors associated with emails which tend to be quite harmful to a team.
- The complex of “Zero Inbox“, which forces people to read everything in your INBOX. I know people who has become obsessed with this topic.
- Another that is great is people living with the paranoia of “why I don’t get and answer?”. A classic in some cases tends to be, someone calls you and tells you: ‘ I just sent you an email, as I not get an answer I call for… ” and you get into verbal communication which is usually much more effective.
Here part of everything “bad” that we associate with when we wrong use of our tools. Now, to make a change and improve we can use other tools.
In a team Kanban boards usually are excellent for tracking and managing work. In a distributed team or where are handled different times, the natural choice has always been the mail. I for some time I have stopped using the mail (in the areas in which I can) and we use Yammer.
The truth is that the result is great and it has helped me to have an calmer Outlook. Here are some experiences that are worth sharing:
- The first thing that strikes me is that no longer exist that feeling of “you’ve gone the problem”. When working on a shared wall, the general feeling is that everyone shares responsibility for what she speaks and shares in it. (Values of Scrum + 1)
- In the same way, it does not need to “read everything that is on the wall”. When a team begins to work with a product type Yammer or Beezy, the same team is maturing to a point where the wall contains important information for the project.
- If you want to work with a Wiki, I recommend any product of this type, or even OneNote. A wall of messages will not replace a Wiki, however it can become an excellent compilation of the type information: FAQ, Support Cases, etc.
As a concrete example of the agility that provides this type of tools, today I have commented on a group of Yammer time to came it to Seattle within 2 days and I have companion of taxi to the hotel. Excellent opportunity for a bit of networking, and to… speak ill of emails!
Saludos @ Home
El Bruno
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Archivado en: ALM, Collaboration, Communication, EnglishPost, Opinion
