Email: The Black Hole

Twenty years ago, email was virtually unknown outside of academic and scientific settings. Today, it's so widespread that you might be shocked to find someone who doesn't use it. What an amazing transformation for such a short period of time.

In the workplace the change has been even more dramatic. Email has become the default means of communication, stealing market share from the telephone, hard-copy memorandum, bulletin board, hallway conversation and meetings. The problem is, it has been a little too successful.

Twenty years ago you never would have dreamt of having a lengthy debate with a colleague via pencil and paper. You wouldn't have called a meeting to look for your missing stapler. You wouldn't have used the bulletin board to monitor your team's performance. Today, though, email is used for all that and more; it's often the be-all and end-all for office information and communication. It's ubiquitous, easy to use, and fast. But it's also abused.

How many times have you had the following internal conversations, with more than a hint of frustration:

• "I'm positive he sent me that link, but I just can't find it. Or was it Joe that sent it? Forget it, I'll just ask the whole group if they know."
• "Ahh ... performance reviews, my favorite time of the year. What did Jane accomplish in the last 12 months? I know she was really productive, but I need specifics. I'll just go into Outlook and review all her emails. Yikes ... there are 454? Better get some coffee."
• "Why do they keep copying me on these messages? I don't care what they do in Sales unless it's going to impact me, or unless they need my help."

Email has become a dumping ground. Good luck separating the wheat from the chaff!

It's time to pull back a little and carefully consider where you store your important information. Work requests, status updates - your critical day-to-day information - should be accessible outside of email. Consider a separate work management system that will provide you easy access to the data that's most critical to your team. Has your team completed the work that you assigned to them? Do you remember what your boss asked you to do in the last meeting? Those are questions that you need to able to answer ... easily.

WorkWyze, offered by our start up Aquamarine Networks, is just one option. See what's out there and choose one that works for you. But whatever you do, don't just send an email.