[d00d]

TheTSArt, on 18 June 2012 - 09:22 PM, said:

It seems to me people who come up with ideas like this and 'inbox zero' are typically very young and still have great capacity to remember things. When you hit your 30's and 40's (and on) you're rather thankful for having a record in email you can refer to. Retaining emails has saved me too many times to count. With Facebook, Twitter and such you just can't guarantee if you're ever going to find those conversations again.

inbox zero does not dictate that email needs to be deleted, just taken out of your working view. I fear you may be speaking about something you've never used.

[ozchrob]

There are so many mediums through which people can communicate today with email as the classic example. There is also Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn from the social perspective as well as Skype and Dropbox, with some users also using tools such as EverNote to keep records too.

A key aspect must be choosing the right medium for communication, reducing overload and duplicity of work. A collaborative tool, accessible from anywhere, on any device would be ideal. If such a tool was available, do you think people would be interested?

https://unifiedinbox.com/

[OnPoint331]

So what's the difference between getting tons of spam emails and having to wade through tons of social media crap like FB that isn't even organized?

[howweroll]

Great article. I'd love to see a review of different applications for this.

This post has been edited by howweroll: 19 June 2012 - 07:16 AM

[howweroll]

The article I just read is called 'Stop using email for everything', yet it seems many of these posters read a story called 'Stop using email'. I must've missed something.

[zarmanto]

howweroll, on 19 June 2012 - 07:10 AM, said:

The article I just read is called 'Stop using email for everything', yet it seems many of these posters read a story called 'Stop using email'. I must've missed something.

Maybe this is what you missed:

Macworld, on 18 June 2012 - 05:01 AM, said:

"My pet project for the next year is to get us away [from email]," he said. "I think email is so archaic. It’s the bane of my existence."

Sounds pretty straightforward to me.

[MorrisTheCat]

MrEnglish, on 18 June 2012 - 06:06 AM, said:

Bollocks.

^
To the point. Not exactly accurate, but certainly to the point.

Also, I can't help but mention that the article title states "Stop using email for everything" which I wholeheartedly agree with. I can't stand when people use email as the medium to send big files around. That's what servers and services are for folks! Stop clogging up my Inbox with multi megabyte files.
That said, the people interviewed for this article actually put forth more of a "trash email altogether and use social networking!" meme so the title is misleading according to the actual content in my opinion.

[Vafudhr]

Just new ways of doing the same things to make companies spend more money.

If mails are sent with a bit of focus and clients configured with the correct rules there's no need to be flooded by mails. I manage over a thousand mails everyday and have a lot of filters and rules to suit my workflow and priorities and so far has worked like a charm.

I cannot imagine that my company productivity would prosper with a chat client and a facebook like playpen to distract who is really working.

Cheers

[woutbucker]

Though I'm a hybrid user of iOS, Android and Windows, I agree completely. This is what I call 'IntelFective Working': Intelligent and Effective:-)

[davitanl]

I completely agree - with the advent of platforms such as salesforce.com and teambox (the best collaboration tool out there), email is primarily for communication with the outside world.

[TomSwift]

"According to one ComScore report, “email remains one of the most popular activities on the web, reaching more than 70 percent of the U.S online population each month.” - MacWorld 6/20/2012

[rcorrao]

MorrisTheCat, on 19 June 2012 - 08:42 AM, said:

MrEnglish, on 18 June 2012 - 06:06 AM, said:

Bollocks.

^
To the point. Not exactly accurate, but certainly to the point.

Also, I can't help but mention that the article title states "Stop using email for everything" which I wholeheartedly agree with. I can't stand when people use email as the medium to send big files around. That's what servers and services are for folks! Stop clogging up my Inbox with multi megabyte files.
That said, the people interviewed for this article actually put forth more of a "trash email altogether and use social networking!" meme so the title is misleading according to the actual content in my opinion.

The concept was not to trash email all together, but a focus on what can be done. External communication with clients isn't there yet and therefore we still need email, although we have successfully set up some beta external client collaboration networks using our Yammer implementation. By focusing on internal collaboration and open communication, we aren't losing valuable information in an employee's mailbox. More importantly, when they leave, does anyone really spend the time to do a deep dive into their inbox and hundreds of folders, etc? No - not really...but having that same information out on a secure and searchable platform, significantly reduces that challenge (since all internal messages would be in the corporate repository). All client emails are copied to the appropriate account in our salesforce.com system...again bringing knowledge and information to a single knowledge-base rather than individual silos (aka inboxes).

[rcorrao]

Steve_S, on 18 June 2012 - 01:29 PM, said:

rcorrao, on 18 June 2012 - 10:59 AM, said:

Since the interview, and before the publishing of this article, we successfully implemented Yammer, a highly secure and eDiscovery compliant tool, which excellent searching/indexing. The tool has been met with tremendous adoption, and has significantly reduced (internal) emails. Conversations around a problem to quickly develop a solution, questions quickly answered by the most appropriate person. Significant reduction/elimination of duplicative information being passed around. All successfully achieved. Email with clients - not likely to go away...but a smarter way to work. If we don't challenge ourselves to think about it now and then, we just revert to "that's the way it's always been done".

Have you also addressed issues of privacy whereby it's appropriate for some people to be involved with some parts of the discussion but not others? Also, getting rid of some e-mail just to spend your time with another service doesn't seem like a big win to me. Nothing against Yammer, use it if it helps you. Just don't pretend it's a wholesale substitute for something like e-mail. It's another tool, just like instant messaging is another tool. Trying to sound "hip" by getting rid of an "antiquated" tool like e-mail just makes you look foolish to those who know better. By your own admission, you still need it for dealing with people outside of your organization. The difference is, now you have to use multiple tools and check those tools in order to communicate effectively.

Actually yes, we have successfully addressed security and who should see what...as you say, to each their own for what works. To have my email box focused on client/external issues means that important external issues are more easily addressed. Our biggest concern is that our company has employees in more than 80 locations - sometimes an employee may not know who to reach out to in order to address a concern. By having a single collaboration platform, not only are countless emails to find the right person eliminated, but the best person to answer the question, or respond to the topic is able to...and their response can benefit the greater population of users (not just the recipient of the the email). My response is always use the best tool for the job...so if I have an extra place to look, but that brings together my employees and in turn improves our client responsiveness, then I'm a willing participant (and my 300+ employees feel closer, more involved and more driven to help one another succeed for our clients).

[rcorrao]

howweroll, on 19 June 2012 - 07:08 AM, said:

Great article. I'd love to see a review of different applications for this.

I'm working on a full analysis and follow-along on our implementation of Yammer (as well as the other tools that we are using). You can follow me @rcorrao on twitter or connect with me on LinkedIn, as I'll post there, once I have it completed.