Re: The nature of the beast

From: dagibbs@qnx.com (David Gibbs)

Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000

In article <htp-1902991256400001@htp5500.metropolis.net.au>,
Henry Penninkilampi <htp@dove.net.au> wrote:

>No.  You seem to be mistaking "efficiency" with "conveniency".  Email may
>be a more *convenient* method for a lot of players, but a phone
>conversation is far more *efficient* (for people with no speech or hearing
>impediments, that is).  And before the question is even asked, I define
>efficiency (in this context) as the effective use of time - the ability to
>communicate at the fastest possible rate.  People generally speak at
>around 100 words per minute; people generally type at less than 35 words
>per minute - it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out which is the
>more efficient method of communication, to wit:

Actually, email can be more efficient, if you factor in total efficiency...
that means... including time when you get busy signals, time when you call
and leave a message, then they call back, miss you, leave a message, etc.
Whereas, for email, you write it, send it, and they get it when they are
ready to deal with it.  I work in technical support, and for a lot of
people we deal with, it is more efficient to do a lot of the communication
by email do to the phone-tag aspects.

I find the real savings on voice (vs email) is not the words-per-minute
issue, but the ability to trim large parts of the discussion/option
tree without descending them.  In email, you tend to cover all the
bases up-front (often resulting in long emails), when talking you
can quickly find that you agree on a number of points, without having
to do the details, and that can save a lot of time.

-David
--
David Gibbs
dagibbs@qnx.com

References

Re: The nature of the beast
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000