Comments on: Mobile Email Still Sucks, Here’s Why

By: ZNF ‘Round The Web

ZNF ‘Round The Web — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:54:12 +0000

[...] Mobile Email Still Sucks, Here’s Why There’s a few distinct issues here… Ricky brought up the critical element that connects them: in that it’s about time management and setting boundaries when the email is work related. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, just used (like any other tool) on your terms. And you can substitute ‘mobile email’ with ‘mobile twitter’ or ‘text messages’ here. Regarding the rudeness factor, depends on your audience/compatriots. Melissa and I will periodically take a conversation break during dinner – I check my iPhone, she checks her Blackberry. VERY romantic. [...]

By: bounderboy

bounderboy — Sat, 09 May 2009 19:48:21 +0000

Dang talk about irony – was about to reply to this, and my phone (blackberry) rang – just wife calling noticed an email on my phone and had to reply to it – client having problems with project … now in a bad mood…

Mood swings is definately something I identify with – had an email arrive Friday evening and its ruined my weekend before now.. cause you know Sh1t on Monday morning!

By: DaveZatz

DaveZatz — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:55:24 +0000

Again in reference to Ricky, my productivity has gone up by killing IM. I’ve gone from running it nearly every waking hour to a few minutes every other day. Though any gains have been offset by the time I invest in Twitter. You can rearrange electrons all day, but I guess you can’t destroy them.

By: DaveZatz

DaveZatz — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:53:37 +0000

There’s a few distinct issues here… Ricky brought up the critical element that connects them: in that it’s about time management and setting boundaries when the email is work related. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, just used (like any other tool) on your terms. And you can substitute ‘mobile email’ with ‘mobile twitter’ or ‘text messages’ here.

Regarding the rudeness factor, depends on your audience/compatriots. Melissa and I will periodically take a conversation break during dinner – I check my iPhone, she checks her Blackberry. VERY romantic.

I have push turned off by the way, so I’m not constantly looking down at my phone every time it beeps or buzzes (it also saves battery life) – new mail comes in, only when I manually initiate it.

As a blogger, I do expect relatively quick response from your team – and I expect all hands on deck (im, email, phone availability) when a press release hits. I work random/odd hours and squeeze blogging into my free time (which I don’t have much of anymore). So when I email on Pogo it probably means I’ve got a few minutes to write at that very moment. If the response takes a few days to work its way back to me, chances are my window has closed and interest may have waned. :/

By: Ricky Cadden

Ricky Cadden — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:12:13 +0000

I think I agree with most of this, even though I’m also mostly guilty of it. Specifically the part where an email or other notification can alter your mood – it’s happened tons of times.

However, one thing that I’ve found to be awesome is the ability to designate ‘dark hours’. During the day, I get my email pushed, so I get instant notification. I typically don’t actually act on it, but I at least know it’s there. However, when I’m done working for the day (sometimes at 5p, sometimes later), I actually turn my computer speakers off (I keep IM running, but that’s another issue), and my phone automatically stops checking for email at 7p every day, automatically. It picks back up at 6a, so that when I wake up, it’s there waiting for me.

Mobile email, like any other part of work, simply needs to be managed right in line with your work day.