Productive communication

Sometimes I get e-mail at work where the thread consists of a long chain of
short messages, and in order to determine the needed response, it is
necessary to contemplate the thread from beginning to end. This is
especially heinous in corporations where required e-mail sigs and
disclaimers are chunky.

As each person adds their response, this contemplation becomes more and
more expensive.. Some times it almost feels like some folks are playing
ping-pong and responding just to get “the ball in someone else’s court.”

To make the conversation more productive, it would help to summarize the
conversation periodically within the thread – that alone would reduce the
processing time required by each participant. Take the extra 5 minutes to
clean up. It will bring the issue to conclusion faster.