"If You Send Me Email, I May Not Reply"

"I'm getting burned out by email, so those of you who use it as your primary way of reaching me, may need to figure out a better way."

That's a growing trend I'm seeing, and as I've been saying for a long time now, it's become a broken model.

Today's New York Times has a story on how one IBM executive is moving away from email and using other tools. The problem is we live in what I call the Pop Tart, Minute Rice, Fed Ex inspired era of "give it to me now, baby" and with IM, VoiceMail, and such the INBOX has become the next rendition of the black hole.

Oh, and don't go adding SMS to your way of finding me..all that will lead to is one more jammed inbox.

Over the last week I've been spending a lot more time "talking" face to face with people live and virtually. I was on the road in Scottsdale, AZ, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York, and now Lisbon. I'm living more by the clock and calendar than ever before and increasing my "face" time via video conferencing using SightSpeed almost daily, not because they're my client, because the new version is so good I want to use it at every chance I can. So this week, while my wife and I take our overdue Anniversary vacation we're seeing more of each other, and of others.

From a business perspective I'm using more of Basecamp as the way to track and follow. Sure it's not as Blackberry friendly, but candidly, seeing more of my Blackberry and less of others has become a big hurdle. With the upcoming iPhone release and better email integration many will experience that more than before, but in my book, seeing, not reading, is believing. So get away from the inbox and get out more and see things better and more clearly.

Comments

[Markus Göbel]

Do you really want to see me every time I have a tiny question?

Remember that you wouldn't be able to fastforward me or to browse my message for keywords. You would have to wait until I come to the point.

That takes time since I am no native English speaker. On the other hand this hindrance keeps my emails to you short.

That's why I still prefer email: People don't realize how much attention I give to their message.