Sunday, July 26, 2009

When do email discussions lose value?

You know the drill.
 
You send an email to someone.  That person responds.
 
You go back and forth.
 
And nothing gets done except absorption of Internet bandwidth.
 
What is a rule of thumb to either call a meeting or pick up the phone and get something done??
 
I'm thinking three round trips of email, as a starting point.  But I could be persuaded it's only two round trips. 
 
 

1 comment:

Curious Cat said...

I think it depends. Complex issues may take more. If you are seeing progress versus seeing none that may mean it is working, maybe it requires thought response, thought response, thought response...

Other factors: how easy it is to meet, how effective it is to meet, what type of content needs to be conveyed (even though people think email is bad for communication, some material is communicated much better via email than in meetings), how many people involved, how quickly is a response needed...

Often, even if a meeting will be needed an email or two before-hand is very helpful