Teblog: Putting email in its place

We have become so used to the convenience of creating email - whack in a few cc's and a bcc just in case - we forget that it has a dark side. Unless you have very sophisticated filters, emails crave attention. They arrive, loaded with content which has to be scanned, at least.

Compare that with an instant message, a Twitter tweet or an RSS feed. They are all means of communicating. They're fairly unobtrusive, but they can lead to great value. They can be scanned quickly and only those that require attention be acted on. In a group setting, a chat group - such as those that can be set up in Skype - is ideal. First you can see if there's anyone around, then you might ask, "Hey, anyone know who's organising the Office 2.0 conference?" Someone would answer and all the others know they don't have to bother. Compare that with an email asking the same question. If there are nine in the group, that's potentially eight responses - and each of those would probably be cc'ed to the other seven.

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Of course, group collaboration isn't for everyone. It requires an openness, a transparency and a potential exposure that makes some exceedingly nervous. But group working, especially across disciplines and between insiders and outsiders (customer, suppliers) is becoming a vital part of business these days. The firewall isn't going to disappear, but it's certainly shimmering at the edges as insiders and outsiders exploit social media for mutual benefit.

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