Experts on email's productivity in the workplace and it's possible obsolescence

Since their widespread adoption in the late 1990s emails have become an almost indisputable part of our workdays A 2019 study by Campaign Monitor found that a jawdropping 269 billion emails were sent and received every day in 2017 with the figure anticipated to grow to nearly 320 billion in 2021 According to author Cal Newport the bulk of our email communication isnrsquot just unnecessary but also an impediment to our workflow In his new book titled A World Without Email Penguin Random House he argues that email communication is an obsolete relic from a bygone era especially when the digital world has gone on to make giant strides not only in terms of technological advancements but also in our attitudes towards workThe overreliance on email has both technological and cultural roots says Brajesh Bajpai Representation picThe case against emailNewport suggests that stretching out conversations into an endless backandforth process as is often the case with email trails can slow down efficiency In a past book he has mentioned that it takes an average of 20 minutes for workers to regain their focus on the task at hand after being interrupted by an email notification He goes on to suggest that a lot of the information sent via email is often irrelevant think about all the administrative messages replies and acknowledgements you are copied on while the pressure to act on emails can compel needless multitasking This in turn impedes your ability to offer your undivided attention to crucial tasksRishi PiparaiyaBrajesh Bajpai director of international business at Vodacom says that the root of the many shortcomings we now notice in email communication is the fact that it is a product created nearly 25 years ago ldquoIn its day email was a revolution as it allowed managers to communicate and collaborate with teams remotely However the manner in which email is used especially in traditional workplaces is still influenced by mindsets carried forward from that era Such offices are often staffed by managers who in their obsession with sending emails have forgotten that emails are not an end in themselves mdash their purpose is to get work done In todayrsquos world of global digital collaboration emails have become cumbersome because of their inability to keep pace with the rate at which work happensrdquo he explainsCal NewportThe better wayNewport and Bajpai both advocate the use of project dashboards such as Trello or Kanban which streamline and compartmentalise communication while also eliminating the need for bulky email chains Bajpai describes these as agile communication systems that make all pertinent information easily accessible to those who need it when they need it In the book Newport says that dashboards encourage singletasking since the only communication workers have access to while assigned on a project is related to that project The focus both say has moved away from responsibility or assigning roles to outputBrajesh BajpaiRishi Piparaiya a leadership mentor adds that having constant access to official communication can be a distraction in itself ldquoIt all began with the introduction of the Blackberry which enabled people to carry their email with them while on the go Wersquove now evolved into a generation that compulsively checks our email multiple times a day An email popup or the ping of a group chat on the laptop immediately sparks our curiosity even if we donrsquot want to we feel compelled to pause our work to at least read if not respond to itrdquo he says To avert this he recommends setting aside at least a couple of hours of offline time per day to focus on crucial tasks that require deep thinking mdash turn off your phone log out of Outlook and donrsquot open your message boards for that duration he addsOn the cardsProject dashboards summarise your projects in a single screen Each task is allotted to a card that relevant participants are then assigned to In the book Newport suggests the following best practices to get the best value from dashboardsgtgt Your cards should be clear and informativegtgt Establish a method of assigning tasks cards to individualsgtgt Hold regular inperson or video review meetings to resolve bottlenecks and identify new tasksgtgt Use card conversations a message boardstyle feature for discussions these tend to be more structured and can be accessed by the team as required