Email - Synchronous or Asynchronous Communication? - DBR 033

Episode 33 of the Do Busy Right - The Task and Attention Management Podcast podcast, hosted by Larry Tribble, Ph.D., titled "Email - Synchronous or Asynchronous Communication? - DBR 033" was published on June 7, 2024 and runs 53 minutes.

June 7, 2024 ·53m · Do Busy Right - The Task and Attention Management Podcast

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Episode Description

Let's talk about email, and communication metaphors. You're not going to be shocked when I tell you that we don't handle email well. It's not that we don't know how to use the app that produces email; that's pretty straightforward. And I'm not arguing that we don't know how to deal with emails as items of information, although I believe that's often true.

We know this is important because Cal Newport wrote a whole book "A World Without Email" – his point is different but we clearly struggle with these communication channels.

My concern is whether or not we deliver our information, our message, well on our communication channels. I think we don't do a good job here. Email is representative of many channels.

I think our metaphors contribute to our challenge. So changing the metaphor will probably help. I'll address some reasons for that which apply to many modern communication channels. And I'll have some thoughts on what we can do about it. If we understand the properties of the tool better, we become better users of the tool.

If you can see this, send me an email – [email protected]

Why email? It's new, so we've got to learn how to do it well – define the social contract

Cal talks about email as a back channel means of assigning work
Email is not something that anybody was asking for
Doesn't mean it wasn't welcome, just that we have to learn the use cases and create the social contract(s)
Example of a social contract with the government around snail mail
"Mail' is correspondence
Email is a mash up of two things – a letter and instantaneous delivery
Two metaphors based on historical communications – letters and face-to-face – we have longstanding social contracts around these

Think about this in terms of synchronous and asynchronous communication

Define synchronous and asynchronous
Synchronous vs. asynchronous communication

Examples of synchronous

Conversation is synchronous
So is a phone conversation and a zoom meeting, but both are less so
Of course, there's a spectrum

Examples of asynchronous

Correspondence (a letter) is not
This podcast is asynchronous communication
A key feature of (previous) synchronous communication is I know whether or not I have your attention
Another feature of synchronous – I can check for understanding in real time
So, correspondence tended to be more thought out or complete vs. a conversation where I can ad lib

Challenges of not understanding the 'mode'

The two metaphors collide in email (particularly), because of our experience and social contracts
Confused metaphors and uncertainty about use cases and social contract
We fall into thinking that since email is 'instant' it is also synchronous
Note, email is not mutually instantaneous – like conversation is
People will pretend to be in synchronous comms, but not be

Understanding synchronous vs. asynchronous

The impact of high-speed communications (it's actually pretty new)
Instantaneous delivery does not guarantee synchronicity. Speed is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition of synchronicity.
Texting has a similar issue; it is instantaneous, but asynchronous
Voice mail as another example
We need to choose a model / a metaphor for how to use these channels – understand the social contract

Specific illustration of the challenge - voicemail

Voicemail as another example
With voicemail, we're thrown into an asynchronous communication -now, I'm in voicemail and I've got to think about what and how to communicate
Do I replan and move to an asynchronous channel?
More detail in Episode One – your phone is mobile, should your call be?

Another specific illustration of the challenge – people pretend to be synchronous

I believe this is one of the fundamental issues of remote, synchronous communications
It happens mostly on phone and zoom, but also happens in face-toface
However, in face-to-face, we can more easily recognize it and we can 'call it out'

Takeaways

'better' email – more complete and thorough transmission of information
Think it through – you initiated the communication, so it's your responsibility to start it well
Choose the right communication mechanism
We fall into habit around our default communication channel
Effective communication means recognizing the pros and cons of the channel we choose – our own convenience is only one of those things
Choose the channel / media carefully and think about it's 'rules'
Most of our channels are actually asynchronous, IN USE. So, if it's not clearly synchronous, think asynchronous
On an asynchronous channel, be more careful, more planned OR clearly move to a synchronous channel

Poor communication is a waste of everyone's attention and, thus, time. Don't get trapped in habit or misunderstand the properties of each communication channel when you choose it. If you intend synchronous communication, use the correct channel(s) that allow you to keep an eye on people falling into asynchronous styles.