Over 50% of employees say that they spend more than two hours a day on reading and writing e-mail messages, according a study from Symantec (I couldn't find the study on their website). And 15% spends over 4 hours each day on their e-mail (that's half of the working day!). Many say they are addicted to e-mail.
We found in our information overload study that e-mail is also a frustration to many people. It is not only the amount of e-mails that people receive, the treshold for sending (or cc-ing) is very low, it is also the quality of the e-mails that people find annoying. Often it is not clear why an e-mail is sent to someone. He (0r she) is puzzled: does the sender expect something from me? They send large attachments, but you have to find the information you need yourselves. Some people forget a header, or they reply on a message earlier sent on another topic. All these frustrations (and many more) we found on e-mail.
So, if e-mail has become so important, why don't we make each other's life not much easier? I think most people are not aware (as sender of the message) what they bring on to the receiver (time loss, insecurity, extra work).
One part of the solution could be to change one's behaviour (mainly on the sender's side). Which is difficult and needs discipline. Another could be technology (most tools are on the receiver's side). Or in some cases, choose another medium. E-mail is not always the best choice. I'm glad that I'm able to use MSN with my collegues, which is sometimes far more convenient and faster than writing e-mails.
Finding a good solution is not so easy, but will be wortwile to work on, as the use of e-mail will probably increase every year.
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