I totally agree. I had it a few times in which someone calls me, rips me out of my thoughs, we discuss something, hang up and I have nothing retained from what we talked about. Or, even better, someone says something on a call and I do that and then they never said anything about that.
Even worse, I can’t listen to the conversation in 1-2 weeks because that is the time I could actually work on it and remember every detail that we talked about.
Now I am strictly going with emails. Sure they can call me and we talk about the feasibility or discuss possible solutions but any request for implementation has to happen either over an email of which I then create a ticket/issue or they create one directly themselves.
That way I can prove that what I implemented was based on what was requested and if that was wrong then the request wasn’t clear enough.
What I like to do is if I get a request from someone to do something while we are on a call, I politely ask them to send me an email so that I don’t forget about it when I get to working on it in a few hours/days. Conversely, if it’s a request that I’m asking, then I’ll send them a follow-up up email about the topics discussed (again mainly for me, but also beneficial for the recipient).
It’s super important to have that paper trail not only to CYA, but also so future conversations can be made from it. If while I’m working on something and I think of a potentially crucial idea, it’s good to be able to pull up that email and reply all so that the background and context is already there. I HATE having to repeat myself and give the whole spiel all over again – just super inefficient. Plus, many times people get added to the email chain so it helps them get caught up to speed too.
Bottom line, phone call and face to face conversations are just as important as email correspondence.
Send the email, then call me to say “hey I sent you an email that I really need you to read and respond to urgently, I’ll let you go so you can focus while reading, talk later”
For one of my 3 jobs, I don’t have regular work hours, I’m employed just 5 hours a week, on call, for IT support for a little non for profit.
My contract, my email signature, my numerous discussions with the team all state “if you require a response within the same business day, please phone me to alert me to the issue”
I check my email once a day, I don’t have time to be checking it several times a day when I’m only paid for 5 hours work, I need to conserve those hours for maintenance and support I’m not about wasting anybody’s time.
So if someone happens to email me after I’ve already checked my inbox for that day, I won’t see it until tomorrow. Hence, phone me, I want to work, I just need a way to alert myself that work is available for me, a text message will also suffice.
I realise this is asking someone to change the way they operate to make my job easier. But the number of times I check my email at 1pm, and there’s zero tickets, so I turn off my computer because I’m not going to sit and watch an empty inbox for my free time.
Then the next day I check my email and I have 20 emails all from the same person from about 3-5pm all saying “hey I have an issue” “hey following up this is kind of urgent” “hey, are you even checking your emails?”…no obviously I’m not, it would have saved you so much effort to send 1 text after 1 email as I requested than to send 20 emails, and I would have actually gotten the text in time.
Also half the time the issue needs to be fixed with a phone call anyway because it’s something simple like “Microsoft Word is missing”… because the program was unpinned from the taskbar and the staff member just needs help remembering the start menu exists. Most of my support resolutions are the equivalent of describing the buttons on the TV remote to your grandmother over the phone. (lots of older, less tech literate folk working in NFP sector)
That’s why I hate text and mail cause someone can use it against you and also with a call you can sufficiently enact some impression by subtle tone modulation and tempo.
Text is just text hard to convey any emotion, sarcasm or a joke. I cannot read anyone’s mind through text
E-Mails are evidence. A call isn’t. I always like to e-mail.
I totally agree. I had it a few times in which someone calls me, rips me out of my thoughs, we discuss something, hang up and I have nothing retained from what we talked about. Or, even better, someone says something on a call and I do that and then they never said anything about that.
Even worse, I can’t listen to the conversation in 1-2 weeks because that is the time I could actually work on it and remember every detail that we talked about.
Now I am strictly going with emails. Sure they can call me and we talk about the feasibility or discuss possible solutions but any request for implementation has to happen either over an email of which I then create a ticket/issue or they create one directly themselves.
That way I can prove that what I implemented was based on what was requested and if that was wrong then the request wasn’t clear enough.
Yes, this.
What I like to do is if I get a request from someone to do something while we are on a call, I politely ask them to send me an email so that I don’t forget about it when I get to working on it in a few hours/days. Conversely, if it’s a request that I’m asking, then I’ll send them a follow-up up email about the topics discussed (again mainly for me, but also beneficial for the recipient).
It’s super important to have that paper trail not only to CYA, but also so future conversations can be made from it. If while I’m working on something and I think of a potentially crucial idea, it’s good to be able to pull up that email and reply all so that the background and context is already there. I HATE having to repeat myself and give the whole spiel all over again – just super inefficient. Plus, many times people get added to the email chain so it helps them get caught up to speed too.
Bottom line, phone call and face to face conversations are just as important as email correspondence.
Send the email, then call me to say “hey I sent you an email that I really need you to read and respond to urgently, I’ll let you go so you can focus while reading, talk later”
For one of my 3 jobs, I don’t have regular work hours, I’m employed just 5 hours a week, on call, for IT support for a little non for profit.
My contract, my email signature, my numerous discussions with the team all state “if you require a response within the same business day, please phone me to alert me to the issue”
I check my email once a day, I don’t have time to be checking it several times a day when I’m only paid for 5 hours work, I need to conserve those hours for maintenance and support I’m not about wasting anybody’s time.
So if someone happens to email me after I’ve already checked my inbox for that day, I won’t see it until tomorrow. Hence, phone me, I want to work, I just need a way to alert myself that work is available for me, a text message will also suffice.
I realise this is asking someone to change the way they operate to make my job easier. But the number of times I check my email at 1pm, and there’s zero tickets, so I turn off my computer because I’m not going to sit and watch an empty inbox for my free time.
Then the next day I check my email and I have 20 emails all from the same person from about 3-5pm all saying “hey I have an issue” “hey following up this is kind of urgent” “hey, are you even checking your emails?”…no obviously I’m not, it would have saved you so much effort to send 1 text after 1 email as I requested than to send 20 emails, and I would have actually gotten the text in time.
Also half the time the issue needs to be fixed with a phone call anyway because it’s something simple like “Microsoft Word is missing”… because the program was unpinned from the taskbar and the staff member just needs help remembering the start menu exists. Most of my support resolutions are the equivalent of describing the buttons on the TV remote to your grandmother over the phone. (lots of older, less tech literate folk working in NFP sector)
I am wondering though, why are you not using imap/push on a mobile which would be trivial?
If I had to wager it’s to reduce distractions while working. It’s the same reason I no longer wear an apple watch after I tossed it into the sun.
Possibly, though there’d still be questions (sla etc)
There’s a reason debt collectors refuse to deal via email.
You could record
2-party consent states exist, and make this annoying if someone wants to be a dickhead about things
Non- refudiation is golden.
That’s why I hate text and mail cause someone can use it against you and also with a call you can sufficiently enact some impression by subtle tone modulation and tempo.
Text is just text hard to convey any emotion, sarcasm or a joke. I cannot read anyone’s mind through text