Email is not broken: It’s a framework, not an application • Hacker News Board

Re: Email is not broken: It’s a framework, not an application

#141

Post by ktizo » Mon, Apr 16, 2012, 11:05 PM UTC

alexchamberlain wrote: post #139

ktizo wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not usually a spelling nazi, but if you are telling people what words they are allowed to use professionally, could you also spellcheck the words you choose to employ. There are less of them, so it should be easier.

I assume you are referring to my spelling of arguement ; the additional e is allowed in British English.

Fair point, you are right. I think it would be picked up as incorrect by most English teachers in Britain, all the ones I had anyway, however it is correct, if a touch archaic.

But I was being an arse for picking at that in the first place anyway, I just thought that your views on avoiding swearing were a bit over the top and not entirely realistic.

Many professional environments cope fine with quite a blue tinge to their speech, possibly because having to watch your tongue all the time can be a negative in places that require rapid communication with the full range of emphasis.

Re: Email is not broken: It’s a framework, not an application

#142

Post by alexchamberlain » Tue, Apr 17, 2012, 7:52 AM UTC

ktizo wrote: post #141

alexchamberlain wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume you are referring to my spelling of arguement ; the additional e is allowed in British English.

Fair point, you are right. I think it would be picked up as incorrect by most English teachers in Britain, all the ones I had anyway, however it is correct, if a touch archaic. But I was being an arse for picking at that in the first place anyway, I just thought that your views on avoiding swearing were a bit over the top and not entirely realistic. Many professional environments cope fine with quite a blue tinge to…

I was probably being an arse by not admitting a misspelling. (Chrome says arse is spelt wrong.)

However, I still don't think it is appropriate to swear in a written communication.

Re: Email is not broken: It’s a framework, not an application

#143

Post by alexchamberlain » Tue, Apr 17, 2012, 7:53 AM UTC

icebraining wrote: post #71

alexchamberlain wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't agree with you. We should be establishing a polite ettiquette

And why would anyone follow it? You need some kind of punishing system for it to be effective, and I'm opposed to that.

The more I think about this, the more you are wrong. Etiquette shouldn't be enforced, it should be automatic and implied.

Re: Email is not broken: It’s a framework, not an application

#144

Post by sjsjsj » Tue, Apr 17, 2012, 2:51 PM UTC

ed209 wrote: post #15

>We fix it by building smart clients. I think improving email lies before the client. Email is just a message container and apps generally throw a load of different content into that container, events, to-do's, photos etc. Some of this stuff should never arrive in my inbox. A to-do email should automatically go to my to-do list, an event should automatically go to my calendar, photos should automatically go to iPhoto…

Context.IO provides API access to core resources in IMAP-enabled mailboxes such as messages, contacts, threads and attachments, and provides webhooks to manage all of these. Apps can be notified of specific content as it arrives, instead of constantly polling a mailbox for matching content. Makes development of apps that look for and push important messages much much easier. http://context.io/docs/2.0/accounts/webhooks

Full disclosure, I do Community Management/Developer Relations for Context.IO.

Re: Email is not broken: It’s a framework, not an application

#145

Post by flogic » Tue, Apr 17, 2012, 9:40 PM UTC

Zak wrote: post #122

flogic wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea he should probably hire an assistant. Good secretaries can light saber through bullshit. That said, I can't afford a secretary and my inbox is completely out of control. It's won. I've lost. There is virtually nothing I can do about it at the moment.

In what way is it out of control? I may be working on things that can help with this problem. Is it just that you're communicating with too many people? Do most of the emails require action, or are some of them things you don't even want to read?

All of the above.

Re: Email is not broken: It’s a framework, not an application

#146

Post by vog » Fri, Apr 20, 2012, 9:14 AM UTC

fluorid wrote: post #61

cturner wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you get lots of emails, then you won't always have time to follow up on all of them. Somtimes the mere task of comprehending the email to create todos from it takes energy, and you don't always have energy to do that immediately. So the emails queue. Effectively the emails become tasks. After several weeks of high load you find your inbox is crammed with lots of things you mean to get around to but you're exhauste…

The common problem you describe is still not about email. The real cause lies in people with deficits in time management, organisational skills and leadership. If you have too many projects/threads going on with too many people time to change: do fewer projects, focus, delegate, give people goals rather than nitty-gritty todos, basically stop micro-managing, find talented peers and trust them.

> find talented peers and trust them.

This is the most important advice, I think. Although delegating, etc. is very important, too.