I am an email fanatic and check mine almost every time a new email arrives. Like to keep the inbox clean and tidy.
I've had a couple co-workers who basically don't do email. They don't open the inbox unless someone calls them or comes to their office to complain that they missed something. They don't clean out their inbox or organize anything. They just skip all the drama and do their work. Wish I had the nerve!
It all depends on your job - for some it's how they get work (like requests to assist if you are part of a CoE or considered an SME). Now it's MS Teams.
What's an email?
It can also be cultural. I have worked in Chevron offices where it was normal to consider all emails as FYI, even if marked for urgent action, as email was considered impersonal and somehow rude. Action in those cases always required a follow up to the desk of the person (and of course a conversation which started politely about how they were doing, family, weather, etc). So, it was better to start with the desk visit then send a follow up email if required.
My least favorite email in Chevron were those which were longer than one screen. My max reading was one screenful. If they were longer I archived and waited for someone to complain.
When you are actually wanted and needed people will find you. When you
are a slug to the beast you feed off the emails.
What is their work if not in emails? Chevron is so interconnected that everybody should be cooperating on something or doing something for someone. Even the most reclusive engineer is building to the specifications of Operations or programming a well to hit a Geologists’ depths. I’m genuinely curious how anyone could survive in a bubble like that without getting put on a PIP.
I knew a guy back in the day who had such a messy office he only uncovered the telephone about once a month. He would then check and return any urgent messages, haha.
I don't worry about emails anymore since I started to spend all my time reading layoff site posts ;-)
My estimate is 50% of the email I get is meaningless (anything from any of the Networks, HR, or senior management, immediate delete), 25% is informational (spare time reading, then delete), 25% is useful (project related). Every now and then I do a Chevron lobotomy and hit ‘mark all read’.
2996 unopened emails and counting. Too many distribution lists. Need to be able to convey thought in subject line and first sentence preview or it’s written wrong. If it’s important they will Teams IM.
What problems did BP create? Email?
It is just in our Chevron DNA to blame others for our problems. Every time someone leaves Chevron, we blame them for the problems that were in their remit. I was in a meeting last week and we have already started talking about all of the problems DP created in HSE. It is just who we are and I don’t see it changing anytime soon. In HSE, we are a group of very competitive and jealous personnel. There are only a few 26 jobs but tons of 24s and 25s looking for that bump. You see the worst coming out in people where the funnel narrows. We are not teammates, we are competitors. If anyone tells you different, they are failing to see the truth.