Emails

  I have taken a week off last year - haven't gone away but decided to stay at home and catch up with jobs that have been waiting for a convenient moment to complete.

  Whilst the break from the normal routine was welcomed, unfortunately there was still the need to constantly check emails and in fact the first two days of my "holidays" were taken up entirely with dealing with urgent matters. ....And that, of course, was the problem with 24/7 contactability. You have to be extremely disciplined to cut yourself off completely ...and I am afraid I am not that strong willed.

  We have all experienced the return to the office after a short absence to be faced with hundred of emails which take days to sort out. A large majority of these are trivia and unnecessary. The email from the colleague sitting at the desk next to yours is a sad reflection on our art of communication.  And now we are faced with so many different forms of communication - email, text and now Google Wave, IM and a myriad of others. Used efficiently, email is a marvellous work aid - used inefficiently, its a curse.