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WikisVsGroupEmail
MeatballWiki | RecentChanges | Random Page | Indices | Categories- Drowning in group e-mail discussions carbon copied to seemingly everyone from the CEO to the building janitor? Try a wiki instead.
- 1.1. Group e-mail is the new agenda-less meeting
- 1.2. Success defined
- 1.3. Ineffective time management
- 1.4. Unstructured discussions
- 1.5. The solution
- 1.6. Conclusion
- 1.7. Related MeatballWiki pages
- 1.7.1. Additional views.
For the WikiGuide?.
CategoryBusiness? CategoryWikiConventions
1.1. Group e-mail is the new agenda-less meeting
Before the age of the Internet, business teams made group decisions by calling meetings. These days, it's often difficult to call meetings. Either people don't want to go to meetings, they don't have time, or they can't because they are spread across the world. The solution to this problem has been group e-mail discussions. However, the cure has often been worse than the disease. In a face-to-face meeting, you can only seat as many people as there are chairs in the room. Group e-mail discussions spread like cancer through your organization. They snowball out of control until it seems everyone is carbon copied on every decision, from the CEO to the building janitor.
The trouble with group e-mail discussions are the same as with the worst face-to-face meetings. Meetings are often created without a purpose, agenda, direction, or respect for the invitees' time. They often drag on without structure as participants are forced to compete for attention. At the end of a meeting, no one has a clear understanding of what's been decided--if anything. Certainly no one takes time to summarize what's been said so it doesn't have to be said again.
1.2. Success defined
The five basic steps of a successful group meeting are well-known:
- Plan meetings in advance.
- Prepare a detailed agenda.
- Pre-notify attendees.
- Control the discussion.
- Summarize and record decisions.
In short, the art of successful group meetings comes down to a combination of effective time management and structured communication. The art of a successful group e-mail discussion is no different.
1.3. Ineffective time management
On the surface, using e-mail for group discussions seems like an ideal way to manage time. After all, participants can respond when it is convenient for them to do so. But we all know this is not the case. Our inboxes are being clogged with "occupational spam" from our colleages carboning us unnecessarily. All of those e-mails need to be dealt with, wasting our time. Worse, involving too many cooks makes decisions take longer. We are held up waiting for consensus.
When an important decision is made, we lose track of it under the pile of e-mails. We waste time searching through piles of digital junk looking for critical information. Group e-mail decisions clutter your life.
1.4. Unstructured discussions
In unstructured meetings, no one knows what to say or when. When decisions need to be made and they seem to affect you, frequently unstructured meetings break down into chaotic conflicts as each participant has to compete for attention and status. Good meetings have a clear way to integrate people's ideas and concerns into a single solution.
E-mail makes this difficult. E-mail gives everyone's voice equal volume. It's easy to hit reply and everyone is invited to do so. For many organizations, this is desired. However, when many people are involved in a discussion, discussions can quickly become chaotic. E-mail discussions spawn sub-discussions, which wander off tangent into entirely new discussions.
1.5. The solution
What's needed is a way to structure discussions so everyone's voice can be heard, but they do not need to compete for attention. Instead, each voice can be integrated into a single coherent expression of the group's opinion. A decision can then be made that respects each individual.
Traditionally, one would use a pad of flipchart paper. Each person's contribution is collected on the flipchart. This single point of focus keeps everyone literally on the same page. Afterwards, the group then comes to a decision by summarizing the flipchart paper.
Group e-mail discussions have lacked the pad of flipchart paper until now. A wiki is a digital pad of flipchart paper. Everyone in the discussion sees the same text. Everyone has an equal chance to contribute to that text. At the end, the text can be reduced to the summary of what's been said.
A wiki is accessible by anyone on the intranet. This means, instead of carbon copying every colleague who might need to be involved, colleagues can involve themselves when they discover the need. The pad of flipchart paper is open to review, so to speak. Once a decision has been summarized, the wiki does not go away like e-mail. Each wiki stays exactly where you put it so you can refer to it any time you want. And a person is can access the wiki any time of day or night, just like e-mail.
1.6. Conclusion
If you want to take back control of group e-mail discussions, you need a tool to focus the discussion that respects people's time. Use a wiki to center and focus your discussion. Use a wiki to summarize your decisions. And use a wiki to remember your decisions when you most need them.
1.7. Related MeatballWiki pages
- Inspired by WikiAsRoom + OneText.
Improvements encouraged. Reuse encouraged.
- This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons License].
Specifically, Attribution-Share Alike v. 2.0. Text originally by SunirShah.
1.7.1. Additional views.
Not only am I a member of a couple of groups drowning in Email, but I am now also 'protected' by spam filters that make it almost impossible for me to receive email from people that I have not authorized in advance.
One apparent effect of this has been to drive me to use wikis for Open communications and Email for semi-private ones. Another interesting effect is that I have started sending people 'self-contained', subject specifc, "wikis" (using WxWikiServer) since this allows me to give them a richer communication that includes graphics, images and sound files that augment the traditional text. In effect, I now send them a type of 'eBook' and occassionally add chapters to later and then may 're-publish'. Perhaps ironically, one way I distribute changed chapters is as email attachments. -- HansWobbe
CategoryArticle