Corporate Idiocy has reached the next level

[_Rick_]

Tomorrow (and every first Wednesday of the month until November) is "no e-mail day".

Are you getting bothered and disturbed by mail all the time? Are you writing long mails, and sending them to people not necessarily required to be in touch with those mails?
Well, the solution is simple! Use the phone! Go there in person! Use Sharepoint! Or our in-house social network! (yes, really.)

So tomorrow, activate an auto-responder, and send no e-mails! For great justice!


..that is the gist of the mail I just received from... some process-optimization working group, that is too shy to sign their mass-mailing (how ironic is that..) with their names, so they could be exposed for the idiocy they propagate.

At least they didn't ask us to send letters instead.
Seriously what are they smoking? I guess that's what you get when you work in a transnational mega-enterprise. Think differently. Just don't use your head.

 

[glenn1]

Their list omitted carrier pigeons and signal drums. Or maybe OP can ask for training funds to brush up on his semaphore.

 

[_Rick_]

Their list omitted carrier pigeons and signal drums. Or maybe OP can ask for training funds to brush up on his semaphore.

I'll bring a flashlight and some flags tomorrow.

 

[KB]

I hope you don't work for a customer service organization. Not sure your customers want you to stop replying for a day. Not sure why you do this, everyone will just resort to IM'ing each other.

 

[kranky]

"every first Wednesday of the week"? How many Wednesdays do they have in one week?

I have had great success physically going to people's office to talk in person rather than using email. If I receive an email and I can tell it's going to require back-and-forth emails, I simply reply "come over to discuss". Now people just come over rather than send the first email.

If I send an email I'm probably 50th in the inbox. If I go in person I become first in the queue.

And I get superior ratings on reviews for teamwork. Wonder why.

In an average week I get only about 20-30 emails which require me to take some action. It used to be a couple hundred.

I'm the first to say people abuse the crap out of email, but a "no email day" isn't a practical solution.

 

[_Rick_]

I hope you don't work for a customer service organization. Not sure your customers want you to stop replying for a day. Not sure why you do this, everyone will just resort to IM'ing each other.

I'd say we probably have around 150-200 million service customers. No biggie, right?

 

[Number1]

Tomorrow (and every first Wednesday of the month until November) is "no e-mail day".

Are you getting bothered and disturbed by mail all the time? Are you writing long mails, and sending them to people not necessarily required to be in touch with those mails?
Well, the solution is simple! Use the phone! Go there in person! Use Sharepoint! Or our in-house social network! (yes, really.)

So tomorrow, activate an auto-responder, and send no e-mails! For great justice!


..that is the gist of the mail I just received from... some process-optimization working group, that is too shy to sign their mass-mailing (how ironic is that..) with their names, so they could be exposed for the idiocy they propagate.

At least they didn't ask us to send letters instead.
Seriously what are they smoking? I guess that's what you get when you work in a transnational mega-enterprise. Think differently. Just don't use your head.

The horror, you might actually have to talk to people.

Well, why don't you take it upon yourself to expose them for what they are instead if whining in here? I can't imagine it would be very difficult to find out who the "idiots" are.

 

[vi edit]

People can't ignore you when you are standing at their desk. That's why I get shit done at work. It annoys whoever you are bugging, but my job is to be a high paid nag.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Every time I think I've seen it all, Corporate world surpasses the idiocy I've seen prior.

There is no limit

 

[xeemzor]

"every first Wednesday of the week"? How many Wednesdays do they have in one week?

I have had great success physically going to people's office to talk in person rather than using email. If I receive an email and I can tell it's going to require back-and-forth emails, I simply reply "come over to discuss". Now people just come over rather than send the first email.

If I send an email I'm probably 50th in the inbox. If I go in person I become first in the queue.

And I get superior ratings on reviews for teamwork. Wonder why.

In an average week I get only about 20-30 emails which require me to take some action. It used to be a couple hundred.

I'm the first to say people abuse the crap out of email, but a "no email day" isn't a practical solution.

I'm impressed at your ability to limit emails to a minimum. The art of personal communication has really declined in the past few years. Sadly, it's harder for this to happen in IT. Only about 25% of my group is in the office at any given time.

 

[kranky]

People can't ignore you when you are standing at their desk. That's why I get shit done at work. It annoys whoever you are bugging, but my job is to be a high paid nag.

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Train]

Some companies actually need this.

If it is so damn hard for you to go and speak to someone in person, then you REALLY need it.

 

[Eug]

Well, maybe it will stop people like Bessie in the cafeteria from sending out mass emails to the entire company announcing stuff like the retirement of their fry cook after years of loyal service.

That's good for the fry cook, but really, I don't care.

 

[yllus]

I'm considering instituting a "no meetings Wednesday" once a month so the people who work for me can get stuff done instead of getting interrupted. I can totally see the usefulness of a "no e-mail" day, but only if that means you don't bother people by other means instead.

 

[vi edit]

I had to go pay a visit to a DBA today because we had some sporadic issues with an online reporting tool working on some workstations and not on others. Dude was literally shaking when I was standing there asking him to pull up a web component version so I could compare a working system (his) to a non-working version (mine).

All I can think of is Office Space.

"I deal with the god damn customers so the engineers don't have to. I have people skills. I am good at dealing with people. Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people? "

 

[glenn1]

People can't ignore you when you are standing at their desk. That's why I get shit done at work. It annoys whoever you are bugging, but my job is to be a high paid nag.

Yes, because it would help my productivty SOOOOOOOO much if everyone who sent me an email during the day came to my desk instead. That way, last Wednesday I could have enjoyed "high paid nags" informing me about:

* dozens of messages sent Reply All to entire enterprise, requesting "please remove me from this distribution list"
* overnight network maintenance
* another team's Happy Hour event
* weekly report due
* public speaking course opportunity
* benefit change deadline
* LinkedIn request pending
* employee viewpoint survey deadline in 3 weeks
* LGBT pride meeting
* 12th floor kitchen cleaning
* outage notice for another team's Sharepoint site
* fire alarm notice
* printer outage in another building
* job candidate interview notice
* meeting cancellation
* weekly status meeting notice

 

[Train]

Yes, because it would help my productivty SOOOOOOOO much if everyone who sent me an email during the day came to my desk instead. That way, last Wednesday I could have enjoyed "high paid nags" informing me about:

* dozens of messages sent Reply All to entire enterprise, requesting "please remove me from this distribution list"
* overnight network maintenance
* another team's Happy Hour event
* weekly report due
* public speaking course opportunity
* benefit change deadline
* LinkedIn request pending
* employee viewpoint survey deadline in 3 weeks
* LGBT pride meeting
* 12th floor kitchen cleaning
* outage notice for another team's Sharepoint site
* fire alarm notice
* printer outage in another building
* job candidate interview notice
* meeting cancellation
* weekly status meeting notice

You just made a list of emails you WOULDN'T get if people had to deliver them in person.

Which is (at least part of) the point.

 

[BUTCH1]

Some companies actually need this.

If it is so damn hard for you to go and speak to someone in person, then you REALLY need it.

Yup, my last job I spent 90% of the time on a forklift moving material around, organizing it, counting it, then right before quitting time my boss would come down and be all pissed off, "I sent you an email about bla,bla,bla", hey fucktard, I can't read emails and operate a forklift simultaneously.

 

[Nintendesert]

You should send out a mass email about no work Mondays.

 

[glenn1]

You just made a list of emails you WOULDN'T get if people had to deliver them in person.

Which is (at least part of) the point.

Yes, I'd get twice as many on Thursday due to the backlog from the previous day's moratorium.

Anyone who thinks that those emails simply won't be sent at all, are fooling themselves. The Help Desk isn't going to stop sending outage notices, HR isn't going to stop sending their stuff, and senior management most certainly isn't going to stop sending their words of wisdom on whatever subject they want to expound upon.

 

[vi edit]

Yes, I'd get twice as many on Thursday due to the backlog from the previous day's moratorium. Anyone who thinks that those emails simply won't be sent at all, are fooling themselves. The Help Desk isn't going to stop sending outage notices, HR isn't going to stop sending their stuff, and senior management most certainly isn't going to stop sending their words of wisdom on whatever subject they want to expound upon.

That's really not the point of the "no-email" days. It's for *actual* work and correspondence between teams. It's a way to encourage people to pick up a phone or stop by in person and answer a question/issue quickly instead of bouncing back a string of emails 20 replies long. All that other shit can be managed by a rule or filter and sifted out.

 

[lxskllr]

I see it as an attempt at subtle education. Corporations aren't known for subtlety, and they don't often get the main point of consultants who give tips, but it looks like a way to show there's other, and better options than email. By forcing people to use other tools, they can recognize the value in those tools.

That's what I see, but wouldn't be surprised if reality was much more stupid.

 

[_Rick_]

Some companies actually need this.

If it is so damn hard for you to go and speak to someone in person, then you REALLY need it.

I sadly work with people that have busy schedules (University researchers) and are 500 miles away. Mail is the perfect medium for 95% of our communication. The other 5% are done by phone or with me hopping on a train up there. Both of these have to be set up (by mail) weeks in advance. A mail, I can expect a reply within 48 hours.

So yeah, anything that's on-site I deal with mostly personally, when it's important enough, and I need a reply. Some things like mass-communications are horridly inefficient in any other way than mail. That link that interests half a dozen people in your working group? I'll be writing it on sticky notes and post it to their screens?

But yeah, if you're collaborating, call a bloody meeting, or whatever, if a subject requires discussion.

Oh, and the pinnacle of idiocy is that of the auto-responder. Every mailing list you've subscribed to will love that one....

 

[_Rick_]

instead if whining

Oh, sorry if it came over whiny - I actually had a hysteric fit of laughter, and am still highly amused by this approach to the final solution of the e-mail problem.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I say we take it a step further and go for a no-work day.