Monday, May 3, 2010

Email versus In-Person Meetings

... the eternal question.

Personally, I think the key is to use both... and then some. There are so many ways to exchange information and ideas, each with it's nuanced advantages. I like email for my long, data-driven, well-composed essays and judgements. I like one-on-on in-person conversations for  the "talk as I think" process of development or editing of documents. Certainly in-person works best for me when I'm involved in group brain-storming. Teleconferences are cheap and effective for dealing with one or two topics that don't require a lot of intense on-the-fly discussion and processing; the GoToMeeting technology helps. However, it's much easier to zone out on teleconferences.

Even the social media venues are useful tools. Twitter (which I just love) is good for pushed sound-bites of information, such as when I'm taking notes during a meeting. IM windows take the place of passed notes, which, although sometimes junior highschoolish, also serve as whispered reminders and suggestions of thinking points to consider or point out.  Online Communities and popular elists are good for the wide-audience masticating of ideas.

So what's my point in this blog post today? None, really. I'm just riffing on the comic I saw.

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