Why I hate meetings, emails and phone calls

I hate meetings, emails and phone calls.  Does that mean I am a complete introvert that doesn’t like talking to people?  Not at all!  I just hate telling the same story or giving people the same answer over and over again.

In defense of meetings – I actually love the richness of communication that face-to-face communication offers.   However, what I find is a lot of folks actually do not take full advantage of this communication and are sort of half there.  Often times I look at a meeting and everyone but a couple of people are on their computers checking e-mail.  What’s the point of being in the same room if that’s what you are going to do?

Meetings, e-mails and phone calls miss a key component that new means of communication offer.  That key component is broadcasting.  A lot of information that people need is actually relevant for a lot of people.  When I created DocuSign DevCenter I specifically tried to push most of the communication to the forum.  At first people were really upset.  Salespeople came over to my desk wondering: “it’s a customer who needs help, just pick up the phone and talk to them!”  The strategy ended up paying off: thousands of developers shared questions and answers and now we have days when some posts are viewed 60,000+ times!

Of course a lot of communication is not meant for broadcasting, with the proliferation of social media I would argue that some folks actually dialed their broadcasting a little too far.  In the corporate world deal negotiations, performance reviews and trade secrets should all be disclosed in private.  Make those phone calls, attend those meetings and stay focused on the people you are in the room with.

For work related questions I always encourage folks to start with DocuSign DevCenter (www.docusign.com/devcenter) and for personal inquiries I am always reachable via Twitter: @mikebz, G+: https://plus.google.com/112023503898972747539 and FB: http://fb.me/mikebz

Happy Broadcasting!