Leo Babauta says he’s done with email. Sort of. It’s really an interesting idea and I can imagine giving it a try if self-employed:
“After more than 15 years of dealing with email, of checking email multiple times a day, of responding over and over throughout the day, of deleting spam and unsubscribing from newsletters and unwanted notices, of filtering out messages and notifications, of deleting those dumb forwarded jokes and chain mails …I’m done. I’m done, because email takes up too much of my time. I’m done, because I don’t like being at the mercy of every incoming request, because I would rather spend my free time creating than replying to emails.”
Leo plans to set up an auto-responder so his correspondents won’t think he’s dead and use Twitter as his main form of communication. For longer conversations he’ll go with IM or Skype. If he needs to collaborate, there’s Google Docs. Friends and family can just pick up the phone and call.
I hope it works for him. Someday I hope to give it a try, too. And for the record, your best bet for reaching me is commenting here or the Gmail address in the sidebar. The work email address is the last thing I check. [via @steverubel]
Finally got around to trying out Skype. Amazing. I waited so long because I couldn’t imagine that it wouldn’t be a bitch to set up and use. Wrong. Took 5 min to install and set up. Typed in David’s Skype name and we’re jabbering way. Sounded like he was in the room with me. I know this is no longer new technology but I had a little 21st century flash of: “Watson, come here! I need you!”