People not reading emails hasn't really been a problem pretty much anywhere I worked for the last 10 years or more. People not writing them has been a problem though. Maybe this was caused by people not reading them, but I've always suspected that a lot of people just don't like writing, and/or aren't very good at it. So it's easier for them to do an in-person meeting.
And when no or very few emails get sent, no on really pays attention to them. I haven't even opened the company email in a week because there is never anything interesting there.
I really wish writing would be emphasized more in job interviews. I have seen some that emphasise written communication, but it's relatively rare.
> Maybe this was caused by people not reading them, but I've always suspected that a lot of people just don't like writing, and/or aren't very good at it.
Writing an email tends is harder than having a meeting, because you (generally) need to understand the problem to talk about it. This is true of both providing information about the problem and for asking questions about it. Part of writing about something is taking the time to understand it.
It can easily take me 20-30 minutes to write an email about something. But, especially in the case of asking for more information about something, it _also_ results in me having a clearer understanding of the topic; because I needed to identify what questions to ask. However, me spending 30 minutes on writing that email means
- I understand the problem better (as noted), AND
- Multiple _other_ people don't spend 15 minutes in a meeting while I solidify my understanding enough to ask the right questions. And that saves a lot more time overall.
That being said, sometimes meetings are the right answer, because there's a gap somewhere and people just don't know what questions to ask; they need to get together and just talk about it.
I think it depends on corporate culture. I have >8,000 unread emails in my corporate gmail, and it only has a 2 year retention policy.
Some companies overcommunicate, and email can essentially be unusable due to noise. it can be a huge issue if there are multiple modes of communication.
I get communication through email, chats, groups, google doc comments, smart sheets, 3 quality systems, and workday.
As a result, it can take a while for me to circle back to my email inbox and give the messages thoughtful consideration.
Appreciate this comment because I completely agree. I should have touched on this as well in my rant. Most of my normal colleagues are very intimidated by the idea of writing an email longer than a few sentences. To sound even more like an a-hole: most are not comfortable writing in prose.
And when no or very few emails get sent, no on really pays attention to them. I haven't even opened the company email in a week because there is never anything interesting there.
I really wish writing would be emphasized more in job interviews. I have seen some that emphasise written communication, but it's relatively rare.