Friday, March 18, 2005

FRIDAY RANT - The courtesy of replying

Am I the only person in the world who gets annoyed when someone does not have the decency to reply or even acknowledge your e mail?

I am probably - let me re-phrase .... I am definitely - obsessive about effective communication.

I love to have an empty inbox and I love to reply quickly to things that can be dealt with quickly - it really is as simple as that.

Yes of course the thoughtful reply takes longer.

I can understand most people are not as keen as me to reply quickly and some e mail replies are well worth waiting for - even if it takes a week.

What really gets to me is no response at all.

To me.... not replying to an e mail - especially on things that are obviously important to the writer ... is no different at all to walking down the street; looking a person in the eye; saying 'hello' - and the person looks the other way ... yes I think it is as bad as that.

Maybe I am the only one who feels that way!

I know e mail is not necessarily a formal way of communication - although actually to me ... it is!!

I also know how busy everyone is...

BUT

Surely good manners means at least acknowledging that someone has taken the trouble to communicate with you.

I feel so much better after that Friday rant!!!

I would be really interested in your views abut this

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok how long will you take to respond to this comment ??

/pd

Trevor Gay said...

Hi Peter

How does two hours feel?

I was talking about e mails in my rant but the point is the same one ....

The most annoying thing to me is the rudeness of not replying at all ... I can always wait for a quality reply

Keep rattling cages

Trevor

Anonymous said...

It is annoying, Trevor. I think it is so easy to answer that cnnot understand why people don´t do it.

Peter, if you choose other as signing option you will be able to sign as /pd, instead of anonymous.

Anonymous said...

For emails my response times should be;

1 hr for business communication.
1 day for very Personal emails.
2-3 days for RFI/RFQ responses (at the very minumum sayin yes we in receipt of request will followup by so and so date)
3-5 days for less intenstive informal communications.

On the other hand, when I am SMS's and or IM'ing then I get really strong. I prefer couple of minutes response timings.

I think that when one choose converstation and partners in converstation, theres a much broader aspect of soceity. Some folks like emails, some dread technology and prefer phone's etc etc.. Its a mix and match of personalitys. If one figures out which method is best for that indivual, then its easier to become more conversable. Communication enhancers is to find the sweet spot for that specific person and leverage it the best practice to create the synergys for better of the whole.. person and envoirnment.

did I make sense ??

Trevor Gay said...

I think the very least someone can do is acknowledge an e mail.

I agree technology is not the only and certainly not necessarily the best way to communicate.

I much prefer face to face communication. But I do love e mail for busness.

When I am at my pc I usually reply to e mails within minutes ...

Great discussion - thanks for your comments Felix and Peter