R.I.P.--The Endless E-Mail

I used to hate getting a reply to an email from someone’s Blackberry. It was short, since the person had to text it. Just a few years ago, before the full keyboards, you had to hit one key multiple times to get to the proper letter if you were going to send a coherent message at all. I guess those individuals with the earlier Blackberrys were troupers to even attempt a message at all, and I should be happy with that. But, it still seemed curt and impersonal when I would get a two word response to an email I sent with several paragraphs. It did have the stamp, “Sent from Blackberry” on the message, as if that was some sort of validation stamp that made it OK.

Now, I have changed my mind, because we are so assaulted by messages all day from email, texts, tweets, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the other hundreds of communications apps that it’s all you can do to type out a one-word response to anything. And, there is no time to read a lengthy message. Since texting while driving is a no-no and against the law AND just plain stupidity, red traffic lights are still not long enough to click and read a lengthy message.

Twitter had something when it restricted its messages to only 140 characters. I’m not a great user of Twitter, but it is refreshing to know that the incoming and outgoing messages will never be long and boring. Short and boring—maybe. I have written articles about keeping emails to what you can see on the length of one computer screen, from the “from” at the top to the end of the signature box. Even that is too long, sometimes, when what you really need to say could fit in a Tweet or a quickly texted message (while parked on the side of the road when the engine is off).

Technology has gone a long way to keeping the length of electronic communications short and to the point. One thing it hasn’t done is to end the “endless email.” What I am referring to is the endless response to a message long after its purpose has been forgotten. For example:

Joe: The meeting is this afternoon at 4 p.m. Bring your updated procedure manual.
Frank: OK. Will do. Thanks for reminding me about the manual.
Joe: No problem
Frank: I appreciate it.
Joe: Glad to do it.
Frank: Thanks again.
Joe: You’re welcome. Don’t mention it.
Frank:…

You get the picture. Here is where the automatic “tweet” style response goes to the dark side. Enough already. If Joe and Frank want to spend some quality time together, they should walk around the corner of their cubicles and sit and chat. It’s hard to know when to stop responding, since if you do it too soon, from the other person’s perspective, you may get another message like this:

Joe: Did you get my last message?

And, we’re off to the races again!

One solution to the problem would be to type “NRR” at the end of a message, which means “no response required.” At least the person knows you got the message, thank you, and it’s over. That way, we can all get back to work.

Mary Nestor-Harper, SPHR, is the AHA!ogist, a consultant, blogger, motivational speaker and freelance writer for BusinessWorkForce.com. Based in Savannah, GA, her work has appeared in Training magazine, Training & Development magazine, Supervision, BiS Magazine and The Savannah Morning News. When she’s not writing, she enjoys singing Alto II with the Savannah Philharmonic Chorus and helping clients discover what they love and spend their life on it. You can read more of her blogs at businessworkforceblog.com and view additional job postings on Nexxt.