THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday, March 6, 2020 |R3
JOURNAL REPORT|WORKPLACE TECHNOLOGY
Companiescan
setpolicies
thatspecify
expectations
aroundafter-
hoursavailability.
who are annoying not in the way
they use technology, but in the
ways theyrefuseto use technol-
ogy. People who won’t use col-
laborative task management.
People who won’t use Google
Drive and Google Docs. People
who won’t use cloud storage and
file sharing. As one person told
me, “People who spend longer
moaning that a tool is garbage
than bothering to work out how
to use it.”
Precisely because there seems
to be a new, must-have technol-
ogy every week, people who
don’t love the process of config-
uring new devices and software
may end up digging in their
heels when they’re asked to sign
on to the latest workplace apps.
While it’s reasonable to be cau-
tious before jumping on the lat-
est bandwagon, these late adopt-
ers should note when a tool has
become part of their team’s day-
to-day workflow. It’s one thing
to steer clear of the chat net-
work or task-management app
that has a quarter of the office
gasping with excitement; once
three-quarters are using it, how-
ever, a stubborn resistance will
slow down the whole team.
But a note to my fellow tech
nerds: We need to be more pa-
tient with the tech resistance.
They’re the people who save us
from investing an excessive
amount of time or money in
platforms that aren’t going to
survive for the long haul. And
when we really are sure that a
tech is here to stay, surely it’s
no skin off our nose to make a
bit of effort to help our less
geeky colleagues. Instead of
complaining about that reluctant
adopter, try offering your lunch
hour as a coaching session so
that you can help them get up
and running.
If you read that heading with
glee, you may be contributing to
another workplace hazard: emoji
overload.
It’s not only about emojis.
People complain about GIF over-
load, too. Yes, emojis and GIFs
are common on social media,
and a well-chosen GIF can be a
useful response to a direct mes-
sage or a Slack message that
seems to have no diplomatic an-
swer.
But at work? People complain
they’re unprofessional. And if
you think that text-based ex-
changes are rife with opportu-
nity for misunderstanding, just
imagine all the ways things can
go awry in GIF- and emoji-land,
particularly when there are still
plenty of people who don’t actu-
ally know that certain fruit and
vegetable emojis are meant to
convey things that are border-
line obscene.
People don’t need to abandon
them entirely, but here’s a useful
rule of thumb: Use text to con-
vey meaning, and emojis or GIFs
to convey sentiment or context.
And if you aren’t absolutely sure
what an emoji means, it’s proba-
bly better not to use it at all.
Subject lines
Subject lines are often a source
of great workplace frustration.
Between emails that have
drifted from their original sub-
ject line, subject lines that
don’t accurately reflect mes-
sage content, subject lines that
are too long and the entire
email, subject lines that are too
short and say little—or nothing
at all—there is a lot to com-
plain about.
My opinion: Your subject
line should be no more than
five to 10 words, clearly sum-
marize the topic of the mes-
sage, and reflect any time sen-
sitivity or action required. If
your email is too complex to
distill into an effective 10-word
summary, it may be a sign that
you’re conflating multiple
email threads into a single
catchall message. You’re better
off breaking these into sepa-
rate emails with appropriate
subject lines.
Here’s another related an-
noyance: People who send a
blank email with the subject
line “call me.” If you just want
someone to call you, then why
not call them? If you’re treat-ing email as a substitute for
voice mail, then the least you
can do is include a short note
with your phone number, the
best times to reach you and
some indication of the call sub-
ject and urgency.Noisy callers
“And our fourth-quarter num-
bers are—” “Woof!” “...each of
us circle back with our—” (rus-
tle, rustle).
Too many of us know the
pain of conference calls where
background noise interferes
with our ability to follow the
conversation. It’s one thing if
your doorbell or phone rings
while you’re on the line; it’s
another to take your call from
a crowded coffee shop or
(judging from the calls I’ve
been on recently) dog pound.
Even flipping through papers
or typing on your computer
can be incredibly loud and dis-
tracting when other people
have to listen to it.
Is it really that hard to use
the mute button? You should
probably mute your phone or
computer microphone from theoutset, and leave it muted for
the duration of the call, except
when you have something spe-
cific to say.
I know, I know: You’re afraid
you’ll come off as disengaged if
you can’t throw in the occa-
sional “Uh huh” or enthusiastic
“Yes!” But the loss of that little
bit of feedback is well worth it,
when it results in a clear con-
versation everyone can hear
and follow.Time piracy
Yes, you could ignore that 10:23
p.m. email from your boss, ask-
ing a bunch of questions about
tomorrow morning’s meeting.
But if you make the mistake of
checking your phone on the way
to bed, you’ll probably find
yourself reopening your com-
puter, and sending an update
that marks you as the Good and
Responsive Employee.
That sense of obligation iswhy so many people complain
about after-hours or weekend
communications. Sure, you
could wait until the next busi-
ness day. Maybe. Because how
are you to know if your client
or boss expects an immediate
answer? What if your insistence
on responding only during busi-
ness hours makes you the bot-
tleneck for the whole team?
After-hours messaging is a
natural byproduct of online
work, and especially workplaces
that include home-based work-
ers (who may trade evening
work for daytime flexibility)
and remote workers (who may
be in different time zones).
While there’s nothing intrinsi-
cally evil about sending a Slack
message at 11 p.m., it becomes a
problem when people are un-
clear about expectations for re-
sponsiveness or availability.
ThoseofusontheWest
Coast will tell you that there is
little worse than all the East
Coast people who send you
same-day meeting invitations
for calls that start at 11 a.m.
Eastern and then wonder why
we’re not there. It’s because
your meeting’s started before
we’ve even checked our email!
But in fairness, I also hear from
East Coast people about the an-
noyance of us West Coasters
emailing with time-sensitive
questions in the middle of our
afternoon—also known as the
end of the day in New York,
Boston and Atlanta.
Technology, policy and com-
munication can all help bridge
the gap. Some companies turn
email or Slack off after business
hours; individual workers can
use email features that delay
delivery of their 11 p.m. emails
to the next morning. Companiescan set policies (or write client
contracts) that specify expecta-
tions around after-hours avail-
ability. And a simple conversa-
tion with your boss, client or
colleagues can help clarify
whether your late-night mes-
sages will be welcome or, con-
versely, whether and when you
need to reply to theirs.
Better yet, if seeinga9p.m.
message makes you anxious,
here’s another solution: Don’t
check your email after 6 p.m.Virtually
forgotten
Those of us who work remotely
share a common gripe: Stop ig-
noring us!
Yes, it’s a little awkward to
run a hybrid meeting in which
some people are gathered
around a conference table while
one or two are dialing in viaphone or web conference. But if
you need those remote people to
be part of your conversation, it’s
up to the folks in the room to
ensure they’re actually included.
That means clustering around
the speaker in the middle of the
table, instead of plopping down
at the far end of the room,
where the people calling in
won’t be able to hear you. It
means ensuring at least one per-
son connects a computer to the
web conferencing line, so you
can share your screen and
slides. And it means keeping an
eye on the chat window or video
screen, so you can see if we’re
trying to make a contribution
(or asking you to speak up).Just say
something
Nobody wants to be the person
who drives the rest of the office
bananas. But most of us will
never know we do it unless
somebody tells us.
In other words, communica-
tion about communication is the
answer here, but I’ll admit that
is no small challenge: If these
annoyances persist, it’s because
they’re incredibly awkward to
discuss. Indeed, even though
this entire story was inspired by
a colleague who often sends
emails in ALL CAPS, I never
worked up the courage to make
a simple request:Stop.Dr. Samuel is a technology
researcher and the author of
“Work Smarter With Social
Media.” Email her at
[email protected].Those who don’t
know–asamatterof
courtesy – to use “bcc”
when sending one
message to a lot of
people via email.
— Reiko McKendryThe person, typically a
boss, who forwards an
email but makes no
comments that serve
to provide context.
... A related one is the
boss who expects you
to read their mind. A
one-line email from a
past boss: “Did you
talk to him?”
—GregStrohIt grinds my gears
when people don’t
respond to the original
and start a new
thread. I’m a purist; I
go back to my sent
and reply keeping all
emails in the same
thread.
— Hardik RavalI had a colleague who
pretended to use his
computer for email. It
always seemed you
never got an answer
without calling him on
the phone. He asked
for help one day with
a printer, and I noticed
his inbox had 30,000+
unread emails.
— Waleed A. HanafiBiggest peeve —
no human support.
Second —being
referred to a
forum or FAQ.
— Dale PowerI can’t stand it when
I’m working with
someone who doesn’t
use even the simplest
of shortcuts. For
example, ctrl+W to
close a window, or ctrl
+T to open a new tab.
— Samantha Yi.Voices From
Readers