On 12/12/2011 12:37, Nicholas Clark wrote:
[I can't remember if he was also the first person to alert me to the thought
that it's also a "cover your back" mechanism for your actions. If you Cc: it
to people, then later you can tell them that they*had* a copy back then, so
it's hard to complain later]
All this leads to the default being a flood of e-mail. Which everyone
(and the organisation as a whole) pays for.
This is one of the stated reasons for Thierry Breton 'banning' internal
email at Atos. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16055310 (study
finds only 15% of internal emails "useful")
That and the fact that many new graduate recruits don't use email much
any more.
I think he might have some success if he finds a way to replace email
with a mechanism that allows people to be alerted to information they
need to know. As long it doesn't descend to Sir Humphrey levels.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh1eCDotdSc from about 1:30 onwards)
The problem is that I suspect that there isn't a good mechanism for
doing that at the moment and email is the best tool that exists in many
cases (for general business management, I know there are good tools for
development teams).
S.
