Hasta La Ideas

In my continuing research for a solution to my e-mail woes, I came across the following video about why e-mail is a difficult medium for communication. “Why Email Starts Fights!” from BNET:

This may be the heart of my issue with e-mail. It’s the fundamental flaw as a medium that keeps me from wanting to use it. I know that for most interactions there are faster and more effective ways to communicate. I’m not convinced the phone or face-to-face are the only solutions, but I think that they are definitely more efficient than some e-mail messages I’ve crafted.

I really like communicating over twitter because it forces brevity. It’s difficult for others to misconstrue “I am running late because my child had to be rushed to the hospital.” It’s plain speech in 140 characters and can be accessed when it’s convenient for the user. I also do most of my communication with the Unclutterer staff over Campfire. It’s a chat room structure that facilitates on-going communication. Since the conversation is continuous, problems rarely arise among members of our team because clarifications can be made throughout the day and people add to the conversation as their schedules permit.

What communication systems do you prefer over e-mail? Do you think the seven percent figure named in the article is accurate based on your experiences? How would you change e-mail if you could?