Email ‘cold turkey’
19
TECHNOL
A personal experience of a week without email.
By Peter Bauer, CEO, Mimecast.
OGY
As a self-confessed email is the thing that underpins tion of trawling through files
addict, I must have seemed mobile working. For those and phoning team members.
like an obvious target when with busy schedules, commut- And then there is the niggling
EMAIL
the Financial Times was on ing time can be just as pro- awareness that misunder-
the lookout for a CEO to take ductive as office time. Not for standings and oversights are
part in its ‘week without me – I missed out on three more common when people
email’ experiment. We all use hours of working time each don’t have a concrete record
email on a daily basis, but day. to refer to. Normally, if I can’t
this experiment wanted to recall something on the spot,
find out if we really needed it. As the week wore on, the or if I want absolute peace of
Is email just an alternative to benefits – and there were mind, I can instantly retrieve
phone or face-to-face contact, some – lost pace with the dis- email clarification. Meanwhile,
or is it more than that? advantages. I quickly came to if there has been a communi-
realise that email is also the cation breakdown, the source
So – and without wishing to tool with which I plan my can be more easily identified
mix my metaphors – I became time, manage my contacts and the problem resolved. An
the guinea pig that went cold and organise my schedule. It’s email can show you exactly
turkey. It was a truly eye- a means of time management when intelligence was sent or
opening five days. Not even I and prioritising workloads. A received, who was copied in,
had appreciated quite how colleague was trying to con- whether anyone has failed to
much email is embedded into firm some travel arrange- receive it,. This is a vital tool
almost every business func- ments with me for an upcom- in ensuring that accountability
tion and workflow. Which is ing business trip. You’d be policies are adhered to and
why email downtime – even surprised how fiddly this that everyone understands
for 15 mins – in today’s busi- becomes without email. and executes their role.
ness, can have significant
impacts. One of the worst aspects of Mid-way through the week I
the week was the loss of con- had a long and interesting
The withdrawal trol and virtual omniscience. phone call with a colleague in
symptoms begin I’m usually copied in to all the our new Dubai office.
I was already starting to expe- important communication Ordinarily I might have just
rience mild discomfort early in across the company, and sent an email, but I couldn’t
day one. I receive around 100- while I have faith in my col- on this occasion and it was
200 emails a day, so deprived leagues, being out of the loop clear that the personal touch
of my favoured communica- made me uneasy. For people was appreciated.
tion tool, I felt isolated. The in management positions,
world suddenly seemed email can provide a quick However, even that benefit
awash with Blackberrys, macro overview of the issues has its problems. We needed
expensive Nokias and other for which you have responsi- to make an important deci-
email-enabled phones. As I bility. Without it, getting a sion on the call; the kind of
was on the train into work I view of what’s going on thing that required reviewing
suddenly realised that email requires a lengthy combina- archived emails and confirm-
WWW.SNSEUROPE.COM FEB 09
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