The Ever-Constant End Of Email

User Error

In my feeds, there's a column I've seen at least 30 times over the years, all by different authors, with different words, but the same point: email is just the worst, and it's going away.

It's time-inefficient. It's strangling people's days. Such and such company got rid of it altogether, and now they are swimming in cash and endorphins. Along with the non-standing desk, the existence of coffee and the fact that some companies persist to have meetings, there's no greater silent killer of the business class. And so on, and so on.

What I'm always reminded of, in the scant moments that these things pass by my eyes, is something I picked up in a college philosophy class. I'm reducing it from it's complete definition to a more useful simplicity, but here goes...

The Naturalistic Fallacy: What is true for me is true for all.

There's probably a dozen ways to reach me digitally. Social media accounts, email channels, texting numbers, instant messenger windows; honestly, whatever platform you want, I'll work with it. What you'd also find in all of those accounts is that the in-box is clean, or will be within a day. (Also, that the way to use email is different than IMs, so your in-box for one isn't as critical as another. But I digress.)

Do I spend the entirety of my day on email? Hardly. I'm pretty ruthless with my time, and when I'm at my best, I am only doing one thing at a time. What I get out of email is, on a daily basis, a lot more than what I put into it.

That's because it compromises the majority of my competitive analysis and research for the day. If someone is sending me stuff that isn't helpful, I block it. I don't take days off to let the task accrue to dangerous levels, and I file obsessively, because that practice routinely pays off when I'm trying to answer a question or formulate a plan.

There's also this: I can't really think of too many co-workers, over the years, that were overwhelmed by email... who I'd really choose, if I were starting a company from scratch, to hire.

Literacy matters. Focus is important. Discipline in how you spend your time is a major difference between companies that work, and the ones that fail.

So... who, exactly, are we trying to save with these innovations?

And if you are one of these folks with the email problem, shouldn't you look to adjust the way you work, rather than hope for the functioning world to change for you?

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