Stop! Put that Phone Down..Right Now
One quick thought I recently had was sparked by a comment by Jason Freid over the highly successful web-based software company, 37signals. Jason said something along the lines of, "By calling someone and interrupting them, you are automatically implying that your point/idea/agenda/question/etc is more important than that individual's time or concentration." One of the themes that Jason and his partner David Hansson is eliminating interruptions in the workplace, a point stressed in their recently published book, REWORK (highly recommended).
To accomplish this and to allow workers to better experience the "flow", they're very hesitant to call someone unless it is extremely important. (One of their other points - "ASAP is Poison"). As I got to thinking about this I realized just how interruptive and in my view annoying it is to call someone that could easily be answered with a few words via email/text several hrs later. By making that call to get a yes or no question you've wasted several minutes of both parties time and it could easily end up being one of those awkward calls where 1. you ask the question, 2. they answer and then you know 3. they're just thinking to themselves sarcastically, "Anything else I can help you with today now that you've got a hold of me?"
One other noteworthy though on means of communicating in this digital world:
- When someone txts you, you should txt back unless it is a complex and lengthy discussion.
- When someone email you, you should email back.
- When someone x, you x back.....
- The individual who initiates the dialogue purposefully chose the medium with which to communicate, and in my opinion, you shouldn't just disregard it and change it up unless it's agreed upon.
I welcome any comments/questions/suggestions and I guarantee you that if you comment, I won't txt, call or email you, I'll simply comment back.
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