Your Very Own Utility Belt

It seems lame now -- and honestly it probably seemed somewhat lame then -- but there was something cool about Batman's and Robin's utility belts in that campy, 1960s, Adam West version of Batman. What tool or gadget would they pull out of their utility belt each time that would be just what was needed to avoid something dangerous (e.g., the exploding shark) or to escape the overly-complicated, criminal "genius" plan to do away with the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder? Think what would have happened if Batman and Robin always pulled out the same tool from their utility belts in response to every criminal plan. We wouldn't have had to wait to "tune in tomorrow -- same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!" to find out if they would once again escape the harrowing death-trap plan of that episodes "special guest criminal." While it might be a long and weird leap from the campy, 1960s "Batman" TV series to your office, I would argue many of us are guilty of pulling out the same tool day after day, hour after hour in the work world. You know it. You love/hate it. Everyone now ... email!

Why do so many of us pull out that same over-used, email tool in 99% of the situations they face each week in the work world? After all, email isn't the only tool in our utility belts. We have many productivity tools available to us -- IM, text, OneNote, EverNote, Outlook tasks, not to mention all those other programs loaded on your laptop/tablet/phone. We have many meeting/communication tools available to us -- WebEx, Instant Meeting, Lync calls, Lync IM chats, video calls, Skype for mostly free! Email typically isn't the most efficient tool in our utility belts. We have faster tools. We have tools that do the job in less time. We have tools that are lighter weight. Email often isn't the most effective tool in our utility belts. We have tools that are more fit for purpose.

But we use email. Why?

• We use email because we are comfortable with email. After all, we have been using email for -- brace yourselves -- decades.
• We use email because we are addicted to the sense of accomplishment, of a task completed, of putting the ball in someone else's court when answering and filing or deleting email.
• We use email because it is less confrontational than an in-person meeting or a discussion over the phone.
• Finally, perhaps most annoying of all, we use email because we can include lots of people in email with -- ugh! -- Reply All (which by the way is not always a benefit or positive).  

Here is my challenge to you. When you get back to the office Monday, check out all the tools in your tool belt -- even some older ones like meeting in-person -- whether planned ahead or ad hoc -- or calling someone on the phone (or updated to a Lync call). Dust some of those tools off and give them a try. Go crazy and "reply" to an email with a phone call or in-person discussion. My gosh, even try using those tools that your company's processes say you should use like a risk log, an issue log, a defect tracker, the change request system. Actually think about which tool you should grab from your utility belt. Don't just grab the same old, worn-out, dulled email tool. And save yourself, those you work with and your customers from the long-running, harrowing, tune in tomorrow, tune in next week, tune in next month, tune in next year, same email-channel to see whether we can all escape the stranglehold of our inboxes and the send button. "To the Batcave!"