Michael Jordan's Weblog

I'm almost back from The War. (No, not that war...) This war is not about oil, money, or politics (well, maybe a little about politics). I'm talking about the battles that all corporate warriors suit up for from time to time: The Email War.

It's so annoying.

I try to avoid them. In fact, it's been a long time since I went into this battle, preferring instead to leave this fight to a younger generation not yet scarred, weary, or wizened. Alas, this week I fought two epic battles. We lost some good men out there.

The lesson from this particular fight is: When you take on an action item that has any ambiguity, ask questions. Collect requirements. Ask what, and how, and by when. In this particular case I assigned the action and had certain expectations. Otherwise capable people went off to complete the task and ended up wasting cycle after cycle, overcomplicating what needed to be done. Guessing what success looked like.

Should I have been more clear? In retrospect, the answer is Yes. But I thought it was such a simple task that there was no way it could have been misconstrued. And aren't consultants supposed to be the experts? Shouldn't consultants be experts in clarifying objectives?

Now it's just comic for how long it's taking.

There's at least one good way to avoid the sort of email brinksmanship that leads to casualties: Pick up the phone and make sure everyone's clear.