September 20, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Face to Face
September 20, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I value F2F communications for many reasons... EMail, despite the presence of those bloody emoticons, don't tell you the emotion of the person... can't really tell if their mad, upset, lying, using dry humor, dazed, confused, embarrassed, insulted, or whatever if they don't want you to know or they don't know how to express it. And, it's not much better than writing letters... send mail, wait for an answer, get an answer, write a return, wait for another return, etc, etc. A dialog, even over the phone, is so much better than an email especially when you're in a hurry to resolve something. I think folks waste way too much time typing emails and IM's. I've got folks in my office that sit just a chair or two away from me and they send emails or those bloody IM's just to ask a question that would take half the time in person. No wonder people in the U.S. are getting fat butt's... they never get out of their chair anymore! 😛
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
September 22, 2008 at 1:34 am
I've noticed, also, all of people from my office uses YM extensively, even if they are bureau neighbors. I think F2F is deprecated here. Meetings are so rarely, even we are all in an offices building tower. On the other hand, YM-ing it shortcuts the time of moving your body from one office to other. Still, this moving of your body should be healthy for you, so, F2F should be another reason to make a minimal sport of your lascivious muscles. 😉
September 22, 2008 at 3:42 am
We're all lazy in one area or another, and many will allow that laziness to form part of their communicating activities. On top of that, few people seem to realise that an important part of the communication process is the verification that what you've said has been both heard and understood, and so that part is often simply ignored. There's no reason why an email cannot convey exactly what the author would like it to, but it takes far more effort than many are prepared to put in, especially when the author has to compensate for lack of body language and other secondary communication clues.
Of course, those who choose the path of least effort (sloppy emails, not followed up) in preference to effective communication do, at least, make it far easier for anyone with the least degree of conscientiousness to stand out as unusually effective.
By the way, I personally do prefer face to face communication where possible, especially since I'm lazy and it's far more effective than achieving the same result by typing 😉
Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat
September 22, 2008 at 3:47 am
F2F is atmost necessary in various field of work. Lot of companies recruit just by telephonic interview, which I personally do not like. You can study a person much more when have F2F interaction. I believe in F2F and will follow this wherever I go.
🙂
September 22, 2008 at 6:25 am
I put a lot of value in face to face time, and especially when dealing with someone you don't know (yet) it's important to build/define the relationship in person. Phone, email and instant message are all equally valid modes of communication, it's a matter of learning when to use each of them. For example, I have a friend in the business that the only way to get an answer within a week or two is via IM, neither phone or email typically gets a response - that's just the way he is:-)
My rule of thumb is email is for normal priority I don't need an answer now, or probably even today. IM is for quick 60 second questions if they are available, otherwise it's email or not at all. I'll call if I need an answer now (and supplement with an email if I get sent to VM), and schedule in person meetings when we need to brainstorm, there's conflict (or the potential for it), or there's a wide array of subjects to cover (at my last job, my weekly update with the boss).
So part of it deciding on your strategy and expectations, part of it finding out if everyone else shares those expectations! For instance, I typically expect a reply to a business email within 1 business day unless I received an out of office message - and equally, I try to reply to all email with 1 business day. The last part - and most important - is that while communication is possiby the most important part of what we do, we should always be mindful of the interruption we're casting on the other person. Even answering an IM is a task switch, and it's all too easy to fall into reactive mode where you just answer messages/participate in conversations all day long to the detriment of work that needs to be done.
September 22, 2008 at 6:48 am
...I have a much better sense of the person. [/B]
Steve mentions that he feels he gets a "much better sense of a person" just by getting some face time. Is that just superstition? I don't think so.
Robert Frank, a celebrated economist and prolific author in the social sciences did some experiments that he reported on in his book "Passions within Reason: The Strategic Role of Emotions" where he tested people's abilities to detect cooperators and cheaters simply by getting some face time with them. Sure enough, he found that face time improved people's predictions significantly. It also tended to promote cooperation. The rate of cooperation rose in comparison to those who did not get face time.
So, it looks like there is some scientific backing to what Steve suggests.
As an aside, I recommend Frank's works to anyone interested in the social sciences and in pondering why people do what they do.
Yours, Bill
Bill Nicolich: www.SQLFave.com.
Daily tweet of what's new and interesting: AppendNow
September 22, 2008 at 7:07 am
However good we get at virtual meetings, etc., you just can't beat f2f.
Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Linux-based Ubuntu operating system claims he uses a team of developers from all over the world. They all work out of their homes and have meetings over the phone and internet. It seems like it would be awefully hard to have f2f time with that kind of setup. However appealing these kinds of management systems might be, there's just something about being able to walk over to the next cubicle when you have a question that makes life a lot easier...
___________________________________________________
“Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.”
September 22, 2008 at 7:24 am
I'm a firm believer in making communication as personal as possible.
I'll put requests in writing (that way there's a record), but I prefer face-to-face or voice-to-voice (phone, voice-chat, etc.), over simple writing for most things.
Many times, I'll put a request in writing (e-mail), then call or walk over to the person's office/cube. Yes, that doubles the traffice and lowers efficiency in some regards, but it gets more done with less confusion in my experience.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
September 22, 2008 at 9:29 am
I prefer both.
There are some people and some situations that an email is just fine, and some of the time there is no time so it has to work.
However, there are things that I need f2f. Cannot do without it. And often the follow ons to the original question require that a f2f happen.
Miles...
Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!
September 22, 2008 at 9:43 am
If people think face to face is important, why do people want telecommute?
I used to work at home for 4 hours, I barely knew anyone in the office. Most of them I only talked to people during web meeting, there is no social time or anything liked that. I just could not stand it.
September 22, 2008 at 10:35 am
Loner, that is somewhat ironic being that your name on this site is indeed "Loner". 🙂
All - I actually work remote, have before as well and find it enjoyable, most times much easier to focus. However, I will say that it takes a lot more work getting to know people in that situation. You can't just let email / chat be your source of communication and most people, believe it or not, do not like to talk on the phone, so you have to work through that. If you are someone who can't express themselves well, in any form of communication outside of face-to-face then you should work on it as more and more of our communication is moving away from that.
However, with all that being said, for those relationships that are more personal in nature, face-to-face has to be the primary method of communication. I can't begin to think of having a long distance relationship with my wife. I have an extremely close friend that I email back and forth with throughout the day but the times that we get together each week are always the greatest and far exceed all the time communicating via email.
Great editorial.
David
@SQLTentmaker“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” - Jim Elliot
September 22, 2008 at 10:38 am
I prefer f2f contact but in todays world, it's unrealistic to expect it in the IT world. Most of the projects I've worked on over the years involved people from around the world. Half of my team were dispersed on the West Coast of the US, the east coast, the Midwest, India, Europe, and China. The end users were dispersed throughout those areas as well.
While I'd like more f2f meetings, the cost would be enormous to get everybody together in one room. So one company I worked for set video teleconferencing. While it's not f2f and no real relationships are built, at least you get to see and interact with somebody and they see and interact with you. Sometimes you do what you have to do rather than spend thousands of dollars sending people to one location for a couple of meetings where very little is gained by meeting f2f anyway.
September 22, 2008 at 10:52 am
Andy Warren (9/22/2008)
My rule of thumb is email is for normal priority I don't need an answer now, or probably even today. IM is for quick 60 second questions if they are available, otherwise it's email or not at all. I'll call if I need an answer now (and supplement with an email if I get sent to VM), and schedule in person meetings when we need to brainstorm, there's conflict (or the potential for it), or there's a wide array of subjects to cover (at my last job, my weekly update with the boss).So part of it deciding on your strategy and expectations, part of it finding out if everyone else shares those expectations! For instance, I typically expect a reply to a business email within 1 business day unless I received an out of office message - and equally, I try to reply to all email with 1 business day. The last part - and most important - is that while communication is possibly the most important part of what we do, we should always be mindful of the interruption we're casting on the other person. Even answering an IM is a task switch, and it's all too easy to fall into reactive mode where you just answer messages/participate in conversations all day long to the detriment of work that needs to be done.
I wish everyone followed your logical train of thought regarding the different methods of communication!
What bugs me is when someone sends me an email and then phones shortly thereafter to inquire "did you get my email?" The "mail" part of email is that you mail it and it gets picked up at the receiver's convenience. I usually check my email first thing in the morning and then once or twice more during the day.
However, it does make sense to phone someone when you have emailed important information to be discussed, and the call is to notify them and ask them to review the info so you can go into in more depth on the phone (or face to face at a later meeting).
I agree that some face to face meetings are important, but I can get a lot of the same results by phone calls, as long as I also spend a little time on the phone getting to know the other party. A few non-business questions go a long way in establishing rapport.
Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply