Catholic Techno Geek

I know I said I would write about Domain Names in my next post, but I am diverging from the topic in this post. However, I promise to get back to Domain Names and websites shortly. I apologize to those waiting for the Domain name’s post.

Two of the challenges of email is deciding when to use it, and when not to use it. And believe me, there are times when you shouldn’t use email!

One of the most obvious reasons not to use email is as a method of communication is when you are angry. If you write an email when angry, the is a high probability you are going to put something in the email that you are going to latter regret. Once you hit the send button, the email is out of your hands and there is a permanent record of what you wrote to be used against you.

Second, if you need to communicate something that cannot allow room for misunderstanding, it is better to use the phone or direct face to face communication. The reason is that email does not provide the nonverbal ques that voice and face to face communication allows. Our tone of voice, facial expression, body posture… all provide additional inform that helps us better understand what it said. Without that information, people have to guess the tone of the email.

For example, if I send an email telling someone to “Go jump in a lake,” the person has to read into the email my tone. They have to guess if I meant this email to tell them I am angry with them, I am joking with them… If I communicated that message face to face, they would know immediately if I was angry with them or not.

I made the mistake of sending an email to a group of people with what I thought was an innocent email. What resulted from that email was several heated discussions with my superiors, and an apology letter to the offended individual. My error was not the content, but that there was room for a misunderstanding to occur. Something a face to face communication could have avoided.

Another common use of email I discourage is the use of mass emails (emails to groups of people) that require discussions. The reason being is that people tend to mass the reply all button when responding to these emails regardless if they are responding to one person or to the entire group. The other reason, it is hard to keep a common thread regarding the message. In other words, parts of conversations are cut off or missed because people are not hitting reply to the same message. It is too easy for someone to miss a important or someone to repeat the same point because of this.  If you need have a discussion, I recommend using a different technology – a blog might one method. I haven’t done enough research to recommend a product but there are various meeting software that would allow you to have a threaded discussion.  If you have a newer server with Microsoft 2003 or better you might want to look at using Share Point. (The basic version is included with the OS.)

So when should you use email? I recommend using email when are communicating facts or requesting specific information. For example – “The Board meeting will be held at 10:00 am on Sept 20th in Room 102a.” or “Joan, can you bring the latest blueprints to the building and committee meeting this Thursday.”  The because they relay facts, there is not a need for nonverbal information and the meaning of the message a very clear.