change management process change management plan
Email is one of the greatest advances in communication. However, email is a potential problem in the design office and effective email management is a priority.
It is this ease of communication that is the difficulty in project management. When we receive "important" information we need to pass it on immediately, so we fill the "to" box with as many addresses as we believe need to receive it. Then we worry that maybe others need to know we have sent it, and others might want to know too, so we fill the "cc" box with more and then we click send!
So say we now have messages to 20 people. To some receivers the information is of no immediate interest, so it gets filed or left in the inbox and forgotten about.
To others it is perhaps of more immediate interest or even importance, but as you copied the entire email, which might itself be formed of a series of replies, they miss the crucial bit of information that was in a reply perhaps 5 emails down. It is eas ily assumed that everyone always reads their email soon after receipt, spots the items of importance, and carries out the necessary actions. We suffer from email overload and to cope with email many read it quickly or leave it to read it later. So, in fact, essential information has not even been read or perhaps only skimmed, but design is proceeding to which it has relevance, resulting in rework when it catches up.
Email has become a monster. It, or rather unnecessary email, eats time that could be better spent. Staff spend a significant amount of time each day trying to stay on top of email and in some cases failing. Time is lost looking for emails later when the "did you get it" conversation happens, followed by other work being set aside to deal with it. A series of contradictory emails can send teams in one direction and then another. A surge of activity at the loss of something else occurs then it is back to the first plan.
How do we solve the problem? You can use 5S:
• Sift - Only send what is necessary, so it is clear what the subject is, and what the action required is. Avoid using "Reply All" and forwarding an entire email chain.
• Sort - Decide who needs the information and send only to them
• Set in Order - Structure the filing of emails to avoid creating a morass of email, particularly in the inbox. Use a priority system for action.
• Standardise - Get everyone to use the same rules
• Sustain - Keep doing it
We must recognise that email is a push medium and that it can cause a wave of tasks or work in progress that is counter to smooth levelled flow in a lean process; especially if it is not structured, prioritized and targeted. Use of systems like Sharepoint or Business Collaborator to organise information "pools" from which teams can extract information when needed is preferable to email.
At the personal level, use 5D to manage your inbox:
Do (the action),Defer (a dd to a to do list),Delete,Delegate, orDrawer (file).Email is a significant advancement in communication, but it favours quantity over quality. Sending less email, and improving quality of email sent is critical to the efficiency and effectiveness of the design process. Adopting "pull" based systems to distribute information is preferable to the use of email.
Andrew Munro
Munro Consulting
http://www.munro-consultants.co.uk/
Munro Consulting provides value management, lean construction and technical advisory services to the construction industry in the UK.