• Remember: It’s the User

    Posted on January 5th, 2011 by and currently 1 commenting.

    When is the last time someone told you something similar to this:

    I wanted to apologize for dropping the ball and not reading your 3 urgent emails that were really critical to meeting the deadline. I’m busy and sometimes I get flooded with messages, but the real problem is that I let those excuses persuade me to ignore email or procrastinate as opposed to really putting forth the effort to efficiently manage my time and communication.

    Once? Never? The confession is admittedly over-stated, and I’m still earning my spurs, but I can count the number of times I’ve seen someone so deliberately shift responsibility from external factors to their own responsibility (or lack thereof) on one hand.

    A friend told me a story recently about communication that was ignored and a narrow escape from the tragedy of letting a client down. (Unfortunately not so rare in agency life.) In the aftermath, the response he received went something like this: “Sorry I didn’t catch that message yesterday. That’s why I hate email sometimes.”

    What?

    The phrase sounds familiar, but look at it a little more closely. What’s the source of the problem? Exactly. Not the medium.

    My friend described the problem brilliantly: “I can’t tell my mortgage company, ‘Oh, I didn’t see that bill. That’s why I hate letters so much.’ Do yourself a favor and don’t ever blame email when your repeated decision not to manage it well is actually at fault.” Ouch. (It reminds me of hearing a great musician make my cheap guitar sound phenomenal while I complain about how thick the strings are.)

    But the problem goes deeper than email, doesn’t it? Why do I think that a project I’m working on could be really successful if the issues with other team members would get out of my way? Why have I tried two handfuls of different to-do list methods in the last year and thought each time that I would be magically propelled closer to deadlines ? I think it’s because my gut reaction is to reach for things that won’t make me ask hard questions about my own leadership or procrastination.

    The hard truth is that it’s simply easier to blame things around us rather than take full responsibility for doing the things we need to do and changing the things we need to change. Remember, it’s the user.

  • http://jlwatsonconsulting.typepad.com Jim Watson

    Eric, I think we’ve all heard (and spoken) different versions of this, but it’s one of those “look-in-the-mirror-reminders” that bears repeating at least once a year. So, thanks!