Email Strategy Review

Well the first week of not checking email constantly turned into a harder experiment than I originally imagined.  Not because I thought my willpower needed improvement.  No, I knew that before I started.  I was invited to work on a new project involving a communications strategy for a non-profit in Haiti which is getting a lot of positive press right now because of their contributions since the quake.  I visited Haiti in February 2009 for a week and know several of the folks involved in this particular organization.  So how did this cause me to check email more frequently than I planned?  Simply put, I’m passionate about helping these folks.

The other folks on this project are passionate, too.  So we’ve communicated whichever way was appropriate at the time: in person, direct calls, conference calls, Twitter, Facebook, Google Wave, IM, Ning message boards and of course, email.  Because we want to get the project up and running as soon as possible I didn’t want to miss anything.  Overall, I probably checked email about the same as before the experiment, but I added a ton of additional channels to keep up with.  And when I checked email, I was looking for items from certain people and I ignored the rest until one of my “scheduled” email times.  The rest of the time I was using HootSuite on my laptop or TweetDeck on my phone.

The introduction of AwayFind into my workflow was essentially a non-event.  No one complained that I wasn’t available.  No one griped about the auto responder.  No one filled out the form to contact me because of an urgent issue.  No one said anything.  And I think that’s awesome.  Because it revealed two important truths:

1. I’m not as important as I sometimes think.  No one needs 24 hour access except my family and they know where to find me.  The world isn’t going to end and I’m not going to lose my clients, assuming #2 occurs.
2. As long as expectations are set, most people will respect my communication preferences.  I set those expectations with clients via my email signature or the auto-responder .  I was initially worried that my experiment would run counter to my earlier post about companies expecting their clients to communicate a certain way.  However, I’m not saying I won’t use email.  I’m just stating my availability.  If a client were to ask me about my email strategy, I would let them know that by working without interrupting myself to check email, I am able to finish projects more quickly and with higher quality.  Isn’t that what you’d want from someone if you were paying them by the hour?  Plus, if someone expects me to check email constantly, they may not be an ideal client for me to engage with as this could be an indicator of an urgency-addicted personality.

As we wrap up the project I’ll continue to check my email less frequently and find better ways to manage the multiple channels that are available for use.  I’ll also post an entry dedicated to AwayFind early next week for those not familiar with their product.