A common problem that office workers face today is email overload. For some, email has taken over their work life and it is damaging, rather than improving, their productivity. In our Leading Virtually Digest of June 20th, we point to an article that reports how the onslaught of email or webmail is hurting productivity. A major reason for email’s negative effect on productivity is its injudicious use. Because of its accessibility and convenience, email tends to get used for purposes it was not designed or best suited for. In this post, I cover the following:

1. The story of someone who freed himself from email’s grip;
2. Responses to the story;
3. Alternatives to email; and
4. What is needed for those alternatives to succeed.

Last week, I saw an article in New York Times about an IBM employee, Luis Suarez, who has freed himself from email’s grip. Suarez was tired of spending hours catching up on email every morning. In order to take control of his productivity, he started using other communication methods, both computer-based (e.g., instant messaging, blogs, wikis, RSS, and social networking) and traditional (phone and face-to-face meetings). Suarez prefers to use instant messaging (IM) because it enables real-time interaction. But anytime an instant-message exchange goes beyond three minutes, he moves the discussion to the telephone. He posts answers to common questions on a blog. Suarez says that he still helps people, but in a more open and collaborative way so that others can join in the discussions and, perhaps, offer a better idea than his. He shares and updates big files with a file sharing system rather than engaging in a back-and-forth exchange via email. To receive notifications of relevant content, Suarez subscribes to RSS/Atom feeds. He was able to cut down the incoming emails by 80% in a single week. Suarez still uses email but he uses it judiciously, such as when he has to discuss private and confidential matters.

Suarez’s article has attracted a fair amount of responses from readers. But it seems to me that a significant number of those who commented missed Suarez’s main point. Suarez suggests that people have an array of technologies available for communication and collaboration, and that those options should be chosen depending on how well they are suited to the task at hand. Suarez uses wikis, instant messaging, emails, phone calls, blogs, and social networking each for different purposes. Here we outline the situations or purposes for which the technologies that Suarez is using are likely to be suitable.

Email

Suarez points out that email is good for communication (one-to-one interaction) but not very effective for collaboration (many-to-many interaction). If you simply need to send something, such as a report, document, or simple message, email is well-suited. Also, if you have something sensitive or private to distribute, email is more appropriate than many other forms of communication.

Email is not ideal for collaboration (such as brainstorming, resolving complex issues, or making multi-person decisions) because the time in between messages makes it difficult to stay focused on the task. Email is just too cumbersome for collaboration that has any complexity to it. It’s not that people couldn’t possibly do this kind of work via email, but Suarez is making the point that there are more effective alternatives.

Instant messaging

Instant messaging is, of course, only useful if your organization supports it – in some organizations IM is forbidden. This form of communication is very useful for collaboration that isn’t too long in duration. Two (or sometimes more) people can have a coherent, uninterrupted back and forth of ideas quickly and easily with this medium. There is the option to save the transcript of the conversation for later with a simple copy and paste function.

IM can seem a little impersonal to those who are not accustomed to using it, but many people are comfortable with this very convenient medium.

Wikis

Wikis are extremely useful for disseminating information that is needed by a lot of people; for example, this is a great tool to use for answering questions that are asked by a lot of your colleagues. This can even be an effective tool for collaboration, since wiki owners can allow others to contribute to the posted material. Also, since people can access a wiki at any time, they are useful for providing information for people in different parts of the world on different schedules than your own. Wikis also have the benefit of tracking changes so a previous draft or revision can be looked at or reverted to if necessary.

Depending on comfort level of users, wikis can even be effective for synchronous work where several people are contributing simultaneously. But it’s probably not the most effective tool for collaboration such as brainstorming or group decision making, and is only appropriate for sensitive information if you have a reliable password protection system.

Phone calls

The effectiveness of using the telephone seems to be largely a question of personal preference. Judging from the responses to Suarez’s article, some readers find phone calls personal and useful, while others find themselves getting caught in longer exchanges than if they email. Suarez suggests using telephone calls for complex multi-person tasks (brainstorming, decision making) that can’t be finished quickly. He switches from IM to phone if a conversation is taking more than 3 minutes. It seems that the personal nature can be a strong benefit of making a phone call, particularly in this age of impersonal emails, but again, this is personal preference.

Remember that phone calls leave no record of the conversation, unlike IM or wikis. Long distance calls can quickly grow expensive for longer collaborative processes, so telephone may not be a cost effective method if you collaborate with people around the globe. Also, if you collaborate with people in different time zones, it might be hard to plan a time to meet, making asynchronous document sharing more effective.

Blogs

People tend to think of blogs either as a news source or a nightmare of personal gushing, but they can be used in the workplace as well. Within an intranet, workers can post information about what they are currently working on for others to see, saving a phone call or email. This is particularly useful when one employee’s output is another’s input. Since they are inexpensive and easy to use, any time saved by implementing a blog represents a benefit.

One downside is that blogs are largely one-sided (even if comments can be posted, it’s not truly collaborative). Also, it may require some discretion to make sure the posted material is relevant and appropriate to those who would view it.

Social networking

Social networking has proved to be a great way to stay connected with people, and the sites available to anyone seem to be very flexible. Suarez talks about using a social networking application within IBM that was developed to help people connect with others who have needed skills or expertise. This requires investment on the organizational level (providing a platform), but seems very useful when employees require the input of others. Especially if workers might have to search the company to find specific knowledge, social networking is a great way to connect individuals.

The main downside seems to be that the company itself has to decide to invest in this networking. Also, social networking may be less relevant in organizations where this collaboration of far-flung experts rarely happens.

This is not an exhaustive list of options, but gives you an idea what Suarez meant by suggesting that workers use communication tools to do what they are best at. But a few caveats apply as well.

1. First, the effectiveness of using these tools may depend somewhat on the openness of your colleagues. This seems to be a generational difference, based on level of comfort and experience using some of these tools. The workers joining today’s workforce are not as reliant on email as the older generation of workers, but are adept at using social networking tools to communicate and carry out their activities. Surinder was recently telling me how much his son relied on social networking tools. His son, who recently graduated from high school, sent out the invitation to his graduation party via Facebook. When he got a new cell phone number, he did not send an email to those he thought should know his new number – he simply put the new number on Facebook. When Surinder asked him a while back to conduct some of his duties as Class President via email, he said that the other students (e.g., secretary, treasurer) he was working with did not use email! Moving to email alternatives may make sense if you are trying to engage younger workers in the workplace.
2. Support of management is another crucial factor in escaping email for other collaboration tools. Suarez seems to have strong support in IBM for shifting away from email; in other organizations this may not be a welcome change. If the organization is not supportive and others are not interested in using other tools, email will probably remain the primary medium of communication no matter how much you try to utilize other tools.
3. Lastly, don’t forget to consider your own work habits. Try to use not only the strengths of each communication tool, but also the ones you will keep up with. For example, it’s not useful to have a blog that you only remember to update once every few weeks. Be a little bit strict with yourself – if making a phone call is most effective but you don’t like getting caught in idle conversation for 60 seconds, you might need to make that call anyway. In other words, don’t use alternative forms of communication as a crutch for avoidance. Try to focus on what helps get your tasks accomplished in an effective way. There are so many inexpensive options these days, it should be possible to make a few of them work for you and your collaborators.