Repeat after me: Don’t use email to communicate ideas.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) January 23, 2014Email is great for facts. But it’s terrible for concepts. One reason is Stu’s First Rule of Email:
http://t.co/ELal5EYBut
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) January 23, 2014In a discussion where ideas are being shared, the interesting parts, the reasons for having the discussion, are the disagreements.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) January 23, 2014But disagreements over email become arguments.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) January 23, 2014Part of this is because we're not all great writers. Not skilled enough to make up for a lack of vocal inflection, body language, etc.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) January 23, 2014But worse, we're all terrible readers. We assume we're being argued with and we adopt a fighting stance. We reply to what we think was said.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) January 23, 2014See Stu’s General Internet Filter:
http://t.co/no0WqSZfLk
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) January 23, 2014I've wasted days on vitriolic email exchanges that were resolved amicably with a short phone call.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) January 23, 2014I’ve gone as far as to create a warning dialog to humorously put an end to email exchanges gone bad. pic.twitter.com/wbcUwK0V40
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) January 23, 2014The best thing email can do to contribute to a discussion of ideas is scheduling a time for a call.
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) January 23, 2014