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Blog postings by Operational Dynamics partners and staff
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Sun, 19 Jun 2005
Dysfunctional reply button syndrome
I’ve received three emails this week alone which started with “Sorry I took a while to get back to you…”
Some of us might recall a time when people eagerly awaited receiving an email, which would be written in careful length, and contain an insightful commentary. No longer. I’m not the first person to observe this, but it’s funny how the way people deal with email has changed over the last few years.
For most, email was their first exposure to an electronic store-and-forward message system. However, the fact that so many people in the corporate world spend (during working hours at least) most of their days planted in their chair in front of their computer means that many people have long since passed the point of being amazed by the fact that it all works, and instead now expect — and even demand — an instant response.
It’s made worse by people with BlackBerries. You send them a short email, perhaps only a paragraph or two, asking which of three different courses of action to take. They (immediately) respond with
sure
making it blindingly obvious that they didn’t read your email after all, which really makes you wonder why they bother carrying the things in the first place.
[I wore one of the pager sized ones for three years. I was thrilled to be rid of it. I carry my laptop all the time anyway - and a full size keyboard & screen beats the hell out of madly banging away with your thumbs while you squint your eyes trying to see what you’re writing]
Anyway, the ubiquity of people emailing correspondents who sit two desks away leads to such silliness as “did you get my email?” Of course they got the email, unless the corporate mail server is down, in which case the entire company grinds to a halt, there are screams of anguish, and the life expectancy of the IT Manager (or at least, the remaining duration of her status as a salaried employee) can be measured in minutes. What they really meant was “did you read my email, consider it carefully, and more to the point, why haven’t you replied yet, you lazy bastard?!?”
Frankly, I appreciate someone who takes the time to gather facts, marshal their argument, and send a well written, concise, but thorough message. Winston Churchill once said in the prescript to a correspondent
I’m sorry I haven’t had the time to write you a shorter letter
We could all use some of that.
Certainly, prompt replies are appreciated, but I think it’s wrong of us to expect them, even in our hyperkinetic age. Besides, if it’s that important, pick up the phone… or maybe walk two doors down and say hello to your neighbour. Meanwhile, for the rest who just want to make a reply, no need to apologize — it’s more than enough that you took the time to reply out of your hectic schedule, so thank you very much.
AfC
Heard in the Boardroom
Some quotes from this weekend’s meeting of the Linux Australia Managing Committee:
Leading into a discussion about a future budget for the organization, several members did a somewhat informal, back of the envelope calculation to get a starting point (as this year’s financials are, naturally, not available yet). After adding up some numbers, this was heard:
Geoffrey: “so we almost certainly lost money this year”
AJ rebuts: “no, I feel we almost certainly made money this year”
Mark, the treasurer interjected: “no, we basically came out even.”
Jon concluded: “so, what we made was $20K, plus or minus $30K. Great!”
Thank god for error bars.
AJ: So we’re controlling them
Stewart: No, we’re facilitating their enthusiasms!
AJ: Ok, we’re controlling them in the sense of facilitating them.
Mark: Your husband is a good example.
Pia: No he’s not.
AJ: I’d rather have invalid data than no data.
Ah, nothing like sentences taken out of context -ed
Sun, 05 Jun 2005
Deutsche Bahn gets it right
Images on the German railways travel information site:
Options for travellers from Germany:
Options for travellers from outside Europe:
Options for travellers from elsewhere in Europe:
Nice to see them getting their priorities straight. :)
AfC
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