Kitchen Design Whine

I'm going to take a minute and whine (yes, I'd safely put this under the category of whining) but along with whining there's the lesson behind it (ok, my motherly instincts are also at work here, I see) and so, I will make this brief, but instructive.

So that I don't trash any particular allied professional, as I must say, from the architect to the helper who sweeps the jobsite clean every day, and everyone in between, including myself, we all have our day in the sun where we can screw up on a (hopefully, teeny tiny) part of a client's project. However, with luck and concentration, those times are few and far between, IF we follow this advice below regarding email communication.

It is important for the unnamed (above) to do a few simple things in an effort to make a project progress in a timely and responsible way. This advice absolutely goes for clients too (you have responsibilities too!)

 
1. If an email is received with specific information in it, read it...carefully. Don't just ignore it. Look at attachments with specific information in them as well, (which, if pointed out-means something is important) and deal with the information on a timely basis. If this is not done, things may get messy later on.

2. Don't skim emails, as information will be vastly diluted, forgotten, and of course, not even seen in the skimming process. Again, slow down. Did I say slow down?

3. Don't make excuses that you could not keep track of the information in two emails because another person was involved with forwarding them, yadayadayada. This borders on insulting.

4. Consider all pieces of information from all parties connected to the project as being important to hear. Do not judge "importance" until you have absorbed the information at hand...premature judgment of non importance is risky.

5. It's the recipient's responsibility to reply, get answers back, etc. Don't be one to have others chase you down for information. That's not cool. 

That's all. Had an email with critical information been read in a timely way, a month would not have gone by, which, at this moment, has now put a big, fat, snag in a project. Color me annoyed at this moment. It will pass, as it all does. It's not cancer, (perspective is always important) but I get nuts about the above stuff. The devil resides in the details! And, yes, my turn will come, with another situation, but I'm not sure I'll be ranting about it!

Have a nice day...and read your emails!!  ;-) 

Comments

[Linda from ::Surroundings::]

Good post! One of my biggest pet peeves are people who only partially read emails - like the first line only. It's rude, inconsiderate and unprofessional. And usually, the same people will get mad at being left out of the loop! Oh, don't get me started, now I'm whining!!!

[patricia gray]

Yes, truly frustrating, I now try and have everyone
I correspond with by email on a job to respond to the emails I send them as an acknowledgement...but that takes a bit of keeping on top of. The messy stuff is sometimes part of doing business. Some jobs go smoothly and others are Royal F... ups! I think it has something do do with this guy called Murphy and he has this law that he occassionally enforces. I hear you loud and clear.

[Bhavna]

This is so true for any industry and any profession! I wish I could forward these best practices at my work place ;-)