Can you stop using email?

[Andy Nguyen]

I know some people here spend most of their work day answering emails. I came across this blog post which gives me some idea and a question

Would you like to spend less time answering email and more time being productive? Would you be able and willing to get rid of email?

 

[MSFHQ]

I personally love email. Maybe some people feel chained to it, but I think my life has gained more than I have given. If people feel overwhelmed they should either prioritize better or take a break. Nice blog post and great topic to bring up. This person has the luxury of doing this though, not something the rest of us have.

Side note, he is giving up email, but instituting a whole bunch of other time consuming, text based ways of communicating. After a while constantly updating twitter, IM's, etc will become just as burdensome as answering emails. Sometimes you just need to bend to the world rather than expecting the world to bend to you.

 

[Sarang]

But answering emails is part of being productive. Atleast for me.
I'm in Risk Management and part of my work involves interacting with traders.

Email fits the bill since social media is banned at work (and not feasible in any case) and email leaves a nice searchable record. More traceable than a call.

 

[Eugene Krel]

I am fairly certain that if most people stop answering emails they will start answering their phones a lot more.

I would rather answer emails

 

[Andy Nguyen]

An interesting article on how to boost your productivity by MIT researcher
Boost Your Productivity in Information Work - Improvisations - MIT Sloan Management Review