4 Reasons Why Project Managers Should Stop Communicating via Email
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 10:01 am
With all the apps and tools available that facilitate online communication, it baffles me why project managers still rely on email. It’s slow, a huge time sink, and hard to filter.
Many project managers are already moving away from email, but there are still some managers who prefer to use email to manage their projects. The “why” behind this decision remains unknown to me.
e-mail
If you also use email for project management, here are four compelling reasons why you should consider it the AOL of the 21st century—completely outdated and clunky. By the end of this article, you'll not only understand why email is an ineffective project management tool, but you'll also know about smarter tools available.
1. Email means more confusion and less information.
You shouldn't use email as your primary tool for discussing turn leads into sales with overseas chinese in worldwide data and bouncing ideas off each other because it's easy to lose track of the conversation - in other words, email creates a lot of unnecessary confusion.
The longer a conversation thread gets, the harder it becomes to decipher. It's enough to drive anyone crazy. "Stars" and "labels" haven't solved this problem, nor have they eliminated the problem of finding the right attachments in each reply.
2. Writing letters is a waste of time.
Do you use email to distribute work? If so, you need to send an email every time you need to assign a task to someone, and then wait for confirmation that the person has understood the requirements. Email-based project management requires that you do this for every task assigned.
Seems like a lot of work, doesn't it?
This practice is fine when there are a limited number of people working on it. But for larger projects, it is a waste of time and a recipe for miscommunication.
Many project managers are already moving away from email, but there are still some managers who prefer to use email to manage their projects. The “why” behind this decision remains unknown to me.
If you also use email for project management, here are four compelling reasons why you should consider it the AOL of the 21st century—completely outdated and clunky. By the end of this article, you'll not only understand why email is an ineffective project management tool, but you'll also know about smarter tools available.
1. Email means more confusion and less information.
You shouldn't use email as your primary tool for discussing turn leads into sales with overseas chinese in worldwide data and bouncing ideas off each other because it's easy to lose track of the conversation - in other words, email creates a lot of unnecessary confusion.
The longer a conversation thread gets, the harder it becomes to decipher. It's enough to drive anyone crazy. "Stars" and "labels" haven't solved this problem, nor have they eliminated the problem of finding the right attachments in each reply.
2. Writing letters is a waste of time.
Do you use email to distribute work? If so, you need to send an email every time you need to assign a task to someone, and then wait for confirmation that the person has understood the requirements. Email-based project management requires that you do this for every task assigned.
Seems like a lot of work, doesn't it?
This practice is fine when there are a limited number of people working on it. But for larger projects, it is a waste of time and a recipe for miscommunication.