It's
easier to sleep in a hammock full of cats, than it is to hold meaningful and
civilized conversations via E-mail. At least, that's the impression you get
if you watch a large enough sample of E-Mail.
Somewhere
between the art of conversation and the act of E-mail, we lose our patience,
tolerance, perspective and most importantly our sense of humor.
The
result? We ruffle the feathers of our peers, rub the fur of management the wrong
way, act like foxes in a hen house, and generally forget we're human beings.
E-mail
is different, difficult and demanding. It's not talking by typing. When we talk
we repeat ourselves to clarify our meaning. When we type we remove repetitions
because we were told never to use the same word more than once in a paragraph.
Repetition
in writing is a no-no. It's a no-no to repeat yourself in writing. See? Whenever
we see blatant repetition, we cringe. Even though it serves a very useful and
accepted role in everyday speech.
This
lack of repetition also allows ambiguity to creep into our messages. When we
repeat an idea, we reinforce meaning. Without repetition, we don't know if the
writer really meant what they wrote.
Lack
of repetition also means that we don't know what is important to the writer.
Repetition serves to highlight important points and issues. When we repeat a
particular point, it is obvious to the listener that that particular point is
important to our argument.
Another
aspect of writing and speaking is that it is difficult (if not impossible sometimes)
to put our exact meaning and intent into mere words. This difficulty is aggravated
by the speed of E-mail. We tend to fire off responses without really considering
our words and what they might convey to the reader.
Our
typing and grammar skills (rather, our lack of these skills) adds yet another
layer of confusion to E-mail. We all make typos and grammatical errors, which
is why editors make a living. ""Nothing should see print until it's edited""
is a pretty good policy.
E-mail
ignores the concept of proofreading.... most people mail their first draft of
a note, without ever even reading it. Is it any wonder that Flaming (the act
of heated written abuse in response to some transgression, real or imagined)
has become a national pastime?
E-mail
is new. We learnt how to talk on our own because it's built into our programming
somehow. We were taught how to read and write, and for the most part we practice
a lot of reading, but little writing.
For
many people, E-mail is their only form of writing, other than shopping lists,
yet nobody teaches us how to write short electronic messages, which resist misunderstanding.
All
of this: the lack of repetition, the difficulty of writing what we mean, typos,
the errors in grammar, the lack of proofreading, our lack of practice in writing
short, concise notes etc. etc. results in E-mail which seldom, if ever, contains
within it, the true intent and meaning of the writer. Then why do we respond
to E-mail as if it did?
Most
of our communication problems in E-mail result from us responding to it as if
it truly conveyed what the writer meant to say. We respond with notes beginning
""You said..."" rather than ""I understood your note to mean..."" To communicate
better in E-mail keep in mind just two things:
- What
you think they meant, is likely not what they meant to write.
- If
someone mis-reads what you wrote, it's likely because you mis-wrote what you
meant.
©
1995, Peter de Jager speaks on Managing the Impact of Change...Technological
or otherwise.