Comments on: Increase Your Productivity 500% http://www.fireandknowledge.org/archives/2010/01/26/increase-your-productivity-500/ A web site by Joshua Sowin that addresses culture, books, technology, ecology, religion, and other topics. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:20:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Pat http://www.fireandknowledge.org/archives/2010/01/26/increase-your-productivity-500/comment-page-1/#comment-120419 Pat Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:42:40 +0000 http://www.fireandknowledge.org/?p=1918#comment-120419 Omit needless words applies to emails too. Omit needless words applies to emails too.

]]> By: Ched http://www.fireandknowledge.org/archives/2010/01/26/increase-your-productivity-500/comment-page-1/#comment-120412 Ched Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:00:01 +0000 http://www.fireandknowledge.org/?p=1918#comment-120412 Good point. :) Good point. :)

]]> By: Josh Sowin http://www.fireandknowledge.org/archives/2010/01/26/increase-your-productivity-500/comment-page-1/#comment-120363 Josh Sowin Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:53:15 +0000 http://www.fireandknowledge.org/?p=1918#comment-120363 On the other hand, I may have just increased the productivity of someone else by replying with: "will do" instead of "Hi Ted, thanks for your email! I have considered the task and have scheduled it to be done tomorrow morning. I'll send you an update when it is done. In the meantime, have a great day. Sincerely, Josh Sowin" * * * How would you argue this is "an issue of cultural and linguistic decline"? What objective standards are there to measure such a claim? Is there really anything objectively wrong with typing how we talk? On the other hand, I may have just increased the productivity of someone else by replying with:

“will do”

instead of

“Hi Ted, thanks for your email! I have considered the task and have scheduled it to be done tomorrow morning. I’ll send you an update when it is done. In the meantime, have a great day.

Sincerely,

Josh Sowin”

* * *

How would you argue this is “an issue of cultural and linguistic decline”? What objective standards are there to measure such a claim? Is there really anything objectively wrong with typing how we talk?

]]> By: Aaron Martin http://www.fireandknowledge.org/archives/2010/01/26/increase-your-productivity-500/comment-page-1/#comment-120360 Aaron Martin Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:37:25 +0000 http://www.fireandknowledge.org/?p=1918#comment-120360 I'm going to disagree with this in practice. Shorthand served a purpose, in saving one person's time: the person writing it. All you're doing by sending off emails this way is wasting someone else's time. You're assuming that the other person will be able to decipher your short hand as quickly as they would a grammatically correct email, spelled properly. Don't make your busyness my problem and force me to solve it. You had it correct the first time, this is very much an issue of cultural and linguistic decline. If you're busy, that's a good thing. Being too busy to not respond properly to a situation isn't an excuse to sacrifice quality and standards. I’m going to disagree with this in practice.

Shorthand served a purpose, in saving one person’s time: the person writing it. All you’re doing by sending off emails this way is wasting someone else’s time. You’re assuming that the other person will be able to decipher your short hand as quickly as they would a grammatically correct email, spelled properly. Don’t make your busyness my problem and force me to solve it.

You had it correct the first time, this is very much an issue of cultural and linguistic decline. If you’re busy, that’s a good thing. Being too busy to not respond properly to a situation isn’t an excuse to sacrifice quality and standards.

]]> By: Edman http://www.fireandknowledge.org/archives/2010/01/26/increase-your-productivity-500/comment-page-1/#comment-120353 Edman Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:42:48 +0000 http://www.fireandknowledge.org/?p=1918#comment-120353 @Somewhiteguy Wow, now <i>that</i> is a solution I hadn't thought of. Bravo. @Somewhiteguy

Wow, now that is a solution I hadn’t thought of.
Bravo.

]]> By: Somewhiteguy http://www.fireandknowledge.org/archives/2010/01/26/increase-your-productivity-500/comment-page-1/#comment-120351 Somewhiteguy Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:52:27 +0000 http://www.fireandknowledge.org/?p=1918#comment-120351 @Edman It would have looked 500% better if he had taken some time to update his replacement database in Outlook. Takes little to no time and you can use all the shorthand you want and outlook will expand it for you. Not difficult. I started doing this when I began Texting and IMing more people and the speed was a good boost for me. Updated Outlook and my lingo doesn't have to change. @Edman
It would have looked 500% better if he had taken some time to update his replacement database in Outlook. Takes little to no time and you can use all the shorthand you want and outlook will expand it for you. Not difficult. I started doing this when I began Texting and IMing more people and the speed was a good boost for me. Updated Outlook and my lingo doesn’t have to change.

]]> By: Edman http://www.fireandknowledge.org/archives/2010/01/26/increase-your-productivity-500/comment-page-1/#comment-120346 Edman Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:38:08 +0000 http://www.fireandknowledge.org/?p=1918#comment-120346 Interesting, but in the case of the editor at the top, couldn't that message have been improved by 500% if he just used proper spelling and grammar, and kept the response just as brief? I don't think it's an either/or proposition, either. For instance, I rarely use capitalization or punctuation while on IM, but always use it in email. Do we need a sliding scale for usage? Interesting, but in the case of the editor at the top, couldn’t that message have been improved by 500% if he just used proper spelling and grammar, and kept the response just as brief?

I don’t think it’s an either/or proposition, either. For instance, I rarely use capitalization or punctuation while on IM, but always use it in email.

Do we need a sliding scale for usage?

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