The IT Skeptic - Comments for "email is not communication"

Service Transformation Communication

ITIL citizen — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:35:07 +0000

Glen,

I agree with your communication plan and it's three elements.

After some years as a consultant for implementing Service Management in IT Departments, I wanted to see first hand how it feels to go through such a change. So I accepted a job in an IT department which was undergoing a Service Management transformation.

I have now completely gone through the cycle of the E-mails, Town Hall Meetings, Departmental Meetings. I must say that the communication has been very effective because I can now explain the core message and the reasons why the transformation is taking place. And this is because of the repitition of the message in the variety of mediums that have been used to deliver it.

E-mail has been a good tool to supplement and assist with some of the tasks in the communication plan.

I heard once that 90% of communication is non verbal. If you send an e-mail you should be prepared to walk the talk in face to face meetings with those involved.

email is a great communication tool

buraddo — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:57:09 +0000

My god, if I had to pick up the phone to give or receive the amount of information I process today, I would not have enough minutes in the day for anything else..

Get off emails back, its a great tool.. Just when abused or badly executed, it s&^ks like any other badly used tool.. I have sat in just as many training courses, workshops and other complete wastes of time parading as "communicating"

The chimp should have got onto the "commune" analysis of word communication. Certainly communication and commune share "common" as the root, but communication is derivative from the different branch. The dictionary states "to impart, share" Neither of these things infer two way communication..

The limitation of email is that it does not create "engagement" in its content. If it comes from your boss, you are engaged. If the subject line has some attractiveness for you then you are engaged.

People need to stop thinking in terms of bad and good or right and wrong.. Its all about the most appropriate way of doing things.. It is the same for communication as it is for ITIL adoption/adaption etc. etc..

Brad Vaughan
http://blogs.sun.com/buraddo

still a big fan of social networking

skeptic — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:24:54 +0000

I do and still love it. In the light of this post let me say I am still a big fan of social networking and collaborative tools (a longer title but more meaningful than "web 2.0") in their place. CMDB just isn't their place. I'm a big fan of infrared remotes too, but I don't need one on my shower.

Communication is a loop

Glen — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:46:29 +0000

I have said for years that email is one of the worst communication tools possible.
Its passive, has no emotion, and your message gets drowned out by the shear bulk of information people are trying to manage in their inboxes.
Why is it so hard for people to actually pick up a phone and talk to each other?

A lesson learned about this...I taught an IT Service Managers course in Caracas Venezuela years ago. We were taking apart ITIL's nine steps for communication, when one of the attendees made a comment. He said "in Spanish what we are talking about is information, because its one way" we spent the better part of the morning discussing how to build in feed back loops to a communication strategy.

Broke its implementation into three elements, all have value.
1) Awareness Campaign; marketing the message
2) Information Plan; broadcasting the desired data, educating people
3) Communication Plan; creating ways to send the message and verify its comprehension in your teams/ management and sponsor.

Since then I always ask 2 compelling questions when doing the work.
Whats the core message you want people to understand?
How will you recognise that they understand the message?

It is surprising how challenging these simple questions can be to a sponsor or champion. I can't help feeling that somehow the answers to them tie directly into the business case discussion.

All the best,

Remember my post...

Jim Prunty — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:06:00 +0000

at http://www.itskeptic.org/node/288#comment-1270 on Information vs. Relationships about "Worknets."

I agree "but"

buraddo — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:57:45 +0000

I agree, but its important to have a multi-proned communication strategy.. If you set our to "commune" with everyone, you can create alot of cost and in fact create stress in the lives of folks who don't really want to be "communed" with..

I spent a while living with a organization psychologist who specialized in the relationship between information, control and work stress. Its also backed up from personal experience. Some people just want to get the details on the process and do the work. For these people, a document, online instruction (probably not a email) is good enough. Really depends on the volume of people you need to communicate with. You can even consider train the trainer strategies if you want a more personalised approach.

The "Change Acceptance Process" is different for everyone, you need to recognise your target groups, what they need for communication and act accordingly.

Brad Vaughan
http://blogs.sun.com/buraddo

totally agree!

John Worthington aka MySvcMon — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:32:31 +0000

Anyone who has set out on the savage journey to ITSM excellence knows this all too well. The barriers to effective and efficient cross-silo collaboration are many, and people are always at the heart of the matter.

I still believe that monitoring intelligence can provide a way to help break down some of these barriers (See The Event Management Gap ), but it is alas, merely a tool. It takes patience, understanding and persistence to change culture. It is often social capital, not financial capital, that's often lacking in IT.

Much harder to develop.

John M. Worthington
MyServiceMonitor, LLC