Jul 14 2010
Email sucks for project management. There I said it. (And I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.)
For some, however, it seems to be difficult to understand. So let me present a scenario that happened just last month where I was part of a project lead by another development team (which meant they were the project managers).
I was working on the code for a particular function on the client's website. A question came up so I emailed not just the client, but the project manager as well. That makes for a total of 3 people involved in one email. So far, not a big deal.
The client replied and because there was a follow-up design question, she included the designer (another individual) on her email reply. Before I had a chance to reply to her initial reply, I had received no fewer than 3 other emails from the designer, the project manager and the client. And then came the replies to the replies.
By the time I was ready to answer questions that applied to me and actually read the answers to the questions I posed in my initial email, my inbox had about a dozen messages all on one project. Worse, since the replies were all over the place and some subject names had changed, the threads were a bit out of order.
Now, at first look this doesn't seem like a big deal. But the reason it was is because it meant I had to tread through previous text as people put their replies inline (i.e., right after the question) rather than at the top or bottom of the email, and there was a lot of redundancy. I don't want to think about what would've happened had any of the emails required attachments or additional people's replies.
And then there's the wee fact that I get dozens and dozens of email every day (on a really busy day, easily over a hundred, which is a joke compared to some people). While I'm pretty good at cleaning out my email to get to inbox zero, sometimes I slip and messages get overlooked. If someone uses their inbox as a holding place for eventual tasks, well, I can just imagine how big that inbox can get.
Not entirely email's fault
I'll be the first to admit that a scenario such as the one above isn't a clear issue of bad software. It's the use of the software. At least to a degree. The fact is, most people don't know how to use email effectively (not that I think I do, mind you). It works great for one on one conversations, but the second you add a third or more individuals to that To: or CC: field, things can get chaotic real quick. Especially if a person is inclined to reply right away only to realize they left something out and hit Reply All again within a minute or two of sending out the initial reply (I know someone who does that with just about every email he sends out).
The solution?
Well, as usual, the solution depends. On what? On how you work, how many people you work with, etc. A variety of factors for sure. For us and our projects, our solution is Basecamp.
Now, I can hear some people arguing that Basecamp sends out email notifications you can reply to and the same thing that happened in the scenario I described could happen in Basecamp. And I wouldn't disagree. In fact, the email reply feature in Basecamp is the one thing I wish I could turn off. But when comparing similar projects that I've been a part of that relied on email for project management and communication, to projects we manage entirely in a project site, the differences are staggering.
The biggest advantage to using an online project management and communication hub like Basecamp is that everything is in one single place. No more saving of emails just to be safe (which can cause problems with disk space sooner or later). No digging through gazillions of emails to find that one message about that one feature that defines how it should work. Instead, everything related to a project is one place for everyone to reference. With a good project manager organizing things appropriately, finding them again even for large projects becomes a breeze. That becomes even more evident if someone needs to jump in on a project when it has already started – instead of receiving dozens of forwarded emails, they can just read the messages online and leave their innocent little inbox out of it.
There are other advantages to using something like Basecamp, including uploading large files to a central repository that may quickly clog up email (ever try to email a complex, several-megabyte Photoshop file to someone? It's a pain.), being able to see milestones at a glance, knowing who is responsible for what and when, and more. But I don't want this to be a commercial for Basecamp (or any software like it).
What it boils down to is that email just plain stinks for project management. It quickly spirals out of control for the reasons I mention above and many more I'm sure I'm leaving out. But if that still doesn't convince you, think about Lars Plougmann’s 10-to-1 rule of Email:
Lars Plougmann provides us the fundmental law of the universe that demonstrates the stupidity of email-based collaboration:
#9 people read the email
# 8 people file the email (in their private folders, thereby duplicating effort)
# 7 people are interrupted in their work or thoughts when the email arrives
# 6 people will never be able to find the email again
# 5 people didn’t actually need to know about the change
# 4 people joining the project in the next phase wouldn’t have received the email
# 3 people will be able to find the email again, should they need to
# 2 people will check back to the email at a later date when they need the information
# 1 of them will understand the email in context, be able to find it at a later date and act on it
It’s like a vampire, sucking our plasma.