We posted on this topic last November and here it is popping up again. Abcnews.com offers No E-Mail Fridays Transform Office. An interesting stat:
The volume of e-mails has exploded in recent years with over 170 billion now being sent daily around the globe, according to technology market researcher Radacati Group. That’s two million every second.
I’m not surprised by that stat. But here is the piece of data that spawned the idea:
Two and a half years ago, Ellison was receiving an average of 200 e-mails a day, many of which went unopened. After getting cyber-indigestion, he sent out a memo to his 5,500 subordinates.
“I’m announcing a ban on e-mail every Friday,” Ellison’s memo read. “Get out to meet your teams face-to-face. Pick up the phone and give someone a call. €¦ I look forward to not hearing from any of you, but stop by as often as you like.”
Ok, that is a serious quantity of email – you could spend your day just doing email at that rate (I think I have done that before). I am still an email junkie, but I can support Ellison’s approach especially since it led to this outcropping:
At U.S. Cellular, no-e-mail-Fridays have been such a success that the company recently instituted a new policy aimed at another corporate vice: no-meetings-Friday.