Tweet, BBM, IM, ICQ, Ping, Email, Post, Call, Fax (still) – all are methods of communication that allow us to correspond quickly and efficiently.
And they are all ways that allow us to answer questions, make our opinions known, get a point across and, in general, feel in control of the communications stream – 24/7.
To that end – we carry devices that enable our connectivity – Microsoft Windows based, Google platformed, Apple supported, Nokia sourced, RIM facilitated.
Our Smartphones, iPhones and BlackBerries are always on – instant response mechanisms that enhance our control and ability to respond instantly.
And we do! Do we ever!!!!
We get an email (or whatever) and before it’s finished loading we are answering; our fingers fly – they punch and push those keys and with a final flourish we hit send – knowing that we have fulfilled the expectation on the other side of instantaneous response and feeling good that we can.
I do it all the time.
And, sometimes it’s the right thing to do and a marvel, even a blessing, of our era – but sometimes it’s just not.
What I love is the ability to ask and answer fairly simple questions and receive, quickly, fairly simple and direct answers. Answers that require a Y or N, yea or nay, yes or no. Answers that let you know what time the movie starts, what street the restaurant is on and what wine you should bring to dinner.
What I hate are the too-quickly authored, long-winded opinions and polemics that way too often crowd our mailboxes, in response to messages that were distributed way too broadly and without much deep thinking. And where the answers somehow never seem to match the final outcome anyway – as if anyone could ever really follow the thread.
We answer quickly because we can. We answer in long form because we can. And we add name after name to the CC list because we can.
What we don’t do is thoughtfully write and craft as we once did. Take the time to consider a question, take the time to consider the response. And couch both in a format that states the issue, makes the case, clearly asks the question and succinctly presents the request.
This behavior that allows the “technology” to lead our IP as opposed to our intellect is evident in our presentations where the phrase “You can’t read the eye chart but…” and pages crammed with text reminiscent of War and Peace abound.
The beauty of our times is that we can do a lot – in fact, we do what others dreamed of – and therein lays the conundrum. Listen:
To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act. ~Anatole France
We live in an era when we can act – instantaneously. We think it and can have thousands see it or hear it in seconds – even milliseconds.
We live in an era where fame is measured in bytes and where longevity is measured in clicks.
What we are losing is our ability to inspire because we act so quickly that we don’t always take the time to dream.
I hear it from our clients; I hear it from my friends; I read it; I see it – we all want to be motivated, encouraged. We all want to be stirred to action, moved to achieve, whipped into a frenzy of satisfaction and accomplishment.
By all means – continue to respond quickly – I will – but every once in a while sit back, reflect, hold off on the trigger and dream – my sense is that we will all accomplish greater things.
What’s your view?
Couldn’t agree more. The expectation of instantaneous response to e-mails is something I tell my team to be wary of with clients. It is okay to ask for more time to think. It can be essential to ask for more time so the pressure to respond doesn’t end up driving our actions and thinking.
Hear hear.
No matter how phenomemal & readily available the “information system”, let’s not forget the order of those words. The former (i.e. the content) is what’s most important; the latter merely the vehicle. The modern day stigma associated with taking more than a day to respond to a missive is a construct that does not serve well.
I wonder how much client SLAs are to blame for the compulsion to respond within X days, hours, minutes.
Talking of taking the time to craft a well thought out response – I recall reading in a leading publication that it is ok to spell incorrectly and forget about grammar, as long as you get your meaning across. While that brought a smile recalling various bloomers, I confess I also cringed!
And finally, after reading Michael Crichton’s Timeline, I stopped worrying too much about taking the wrong decisions – I loved his concept of parallel universes where somewhere, you have taken all the right decisions and done great things and achieved nirvana!
In a parallel universe I would like to…what?
If I told you I had a new invention that could provide all of the benefits of cardio or weight training, but could fit in your pocket – would you be interested? The benefits would be undeniable; you could work out your muscles at all times without having to be at the gym.
Mobile office devices can allow office-like productivity anywhere, anytime (all the time) – but it’s important to remember that no matter how much we exercise, growth (of muscles or mind) occurs only during periods of rest.
so long as we dream great things!
Sometimes it’s like, “now that I have your attention, I don’t have anything to say…”.
Explaining things effectively for someone else helps me as well as them.
Tom.
Reminds me of a quote from Astrid Lindgren – “Everything big that occurred in the world occurred in someone’s imagination.”
Centuries ago Blaise Pascal said:
“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead”
If he were alive today he’d say something like
“I didn’t have time to write a short – and well-thought – mail, so I sent an instant reply instead”
The same concept can be applied to products, presentations, strategic plans and proposals. It’s really complex to be simple. How many times did we make things more complex just because we didn’t dedicate enough time to get to the core of the idea and find the magic simple formula?
Or the opposite – when we oversimplified replies in brainless instant answers furiously typed on your blackberry, and extended for days – or weeks – a topic that could have been quickly solved in a properly planned 30min skype call?
I plead guilty, and already lost the count. But rather keep trying, again and again.
A very late response…found this great post that so resonates with me. I also plead guilty as an almost-walked-into-a-car- while typing-on-my blackberry perpetrator; would have much to say, but limit to this rather long, spontaneous but thought-out reply:
1. We’re too busy with being effective and efficient, to take the time to dream. Why? because we’ve been conditioned to keep both our eyes on the bottom line, here and now. I can speak for marketing – my professional home. Marketing has been reduced to numbers. Intuitive understanding, integrating classical disciplines, thoughtful strategy, planning and understanding what moves our clients, users, partners have been sacrificed for tangible ROI in the form of the latest and greatest metrics. Dreaming is often considered a luxury – or even worse, a waste of precious time – in our lightening speed direct response world.
2. Generations growing up in the texting, tweeting, friending, sound bite world seem to suffer from cumulative forgetfulness (or ignorance of) the value of in person human communication – and the ability to write a proper sentence.
The author of weeklyramble.wunderman.com has written an excellent article. You have made your point and there is not much to argue about. It is like the following universal truth that you can not argue with: When you need it, you can’t find it or its not available. Thanks for the info.