Still Using Email to Manage Your Projects?

A new crop of technologies dubbed Web 2.0 are changing the communication paradigm and transforming the way we communicate. Web 2.0 technologies allow users to not only access or view information on the Internet, they also allow for user participation. These technologies include social networking sites, blogs and wikis, which are replacing traditional software for collaboration and project management (PM).

As Thomas Claburn wrote: “Email, the Internet’s killer app, is killing productivity. Even for workers who insulate themselves from pitches for porn and pills - up 59% in October from the previous month, according to email management company Postini - occupational spam takes a toll: Mailing list messages, workgroup updates, email alerts, and corporate communiqués demand attention, if not a reply. Dealing with email easily can become a full-time job. Heavy users receive 1,000 messages and 1,500 spam messages a week, estimates Richi Jennings, lead analyst with the email security practice at Ferris Research.”¹

Project managers who use email to manage projects have found it to be more of a headache than a “killer app.” The instantaneous nature of email is not compatible with the way most people work. Projects are not planned on the fly, budgets aren’t forecast or approved in a day, nor are major decisions made in a matter of minutes. Yet the very nature of email speeds everything up, and data as well as good decision-making can get lost in the shuffle.

Email Costs Businesses Time and Money

In 2008, almost 3 trillion emails will be sent worldwide, with only a very small percentage relevant to the tasks at hand. Junk email, malicious file threats and interpretation of wandering threads require time-wasting attention every day from every employee. Personal misuse of workplace email is also a rising problem. According to a 2005 survey by the American Management Association, 26 percent of employers have terminated employees for inappropriate use of email, a number that’s certain to keep rising.^2,3

Each year, businesses are spending increasing amounts of money to keep their electronic communications secure in an unending game of cat and mouse against malicious coders. Yet suspicious file detection software and tighter network controls many times will block all file attachments and filter legitimate messages. Sending file attachments through email also presents problems due to file size restrictions on many networks.

In addition, there are versioning issues, with critical data scattered in multiple subject threads with multiple senders in multiple inboxes on multiple hard drives and servers. Lost files, lost task assignments, lost action items, misinterpretation and delegation confusion are common. It is not difficult to come to the conclusion that email is a very poor planning tool. Countless hours are spent using email for project collaboration when in reality email was only designed for simple electronic text communication.

Top Ten Critical Email Problems

1. Lack of security.
2. Attachment problems.
3. Reliability problems.
4. Spam clutter.
5. Document version confusion.
6. Scattered data.
7. Unclear project direction.
8. Project status confusion.
9. Next step priority uncertainty.
10. Lack of accountability.

The Solution

A solution may be to transition projects from email to Web 2.0 PM software, which increases the opportunity for project completion. When companies move away from using email as their main planning tool and their business-critical data is no longer scattered within multiple email inboxes and network hard drives, they will find it easier to access and locate important information.

Benefits of New Generation Collaboration Software

Companies realize the increasing demand in dealing with different channels of communications. The goal is to make communications a more productive and responsive working experience for all team members, and Web 2.0 technologies can do just that.

Because these technologies are accessed online and the software is hosted by providers, there are usually no maintenance issues and therefore little or no IT involvement. In addition, because they are available anywhere Internet access is available, team members do not have the specific physical location and computer system limitations found with traditional PM software.