E-mails building walls at the office.

I  love e-mails.  It’s an excellent way to recognise people among their peers en masse and to keep a project team on the same page.  It has also made live meetings almost obsolete, as more “meetings” take place through online exchanges.

But there is also a dark side to this productivity spiker.  We’ve stopped talking to people.  The nuances that a person to person conversation deliver cannot be captured in an e-mail.  In fact, most times you think someone has heard you, once you press send.

Some companies have decreed live interface, because e-mails are being used to “CYA” rather than ensure that the job gets done whatever the challenge.  I think we need to talk to each other more.  Limit e-mails to confirming instructions received, but let the first communication be in the flesh or on the phone/skpye.

It’s so much nicer to talk to a person rather than to a keyboard.