Every Time You Send an E-mail, You Neglect an Information System You Should be Using

We are living on a wild information highway. And we’re bound to information in order to assess and improve.

Data is everywhere, but only some are useful. We should try over and over again to extract the useful ones. We are remote. We should be fast and creative at the same time.

The language itself is the mother of all communication problems. We don’t need words or salutations. We don’t need the art or the literature for business. We need constant feedback, we need information. We are business robots. Hopefully creative ones.

We should be agile. So our messages should be clear and structured.

My assertion is the following:

Every time you send an e-mail, you neglect an information system you should be using.

• Found a bug to report, open a ticket…
• File to send, use cloud storage…
• Something to approve, hit the button…
• A comic to share, post to social media…
• Feeling chatty, use instant messaging…
• Ideas to share, blog…
• Appreciation to show, just like it…

E-mails are good for spammers. To message foreigners. Foreigners are people that you don’t have a common protocol with. That professor of the new course, or the new customer you just met…

You should not bury any useful information in an e-mail. E-mails are good for notifying people and sending links of that useful information. The information that should be the single source of truth.

In order to structure your organization, structure your information first.