The times are changing, we as individuals are changing and so are the technology and the tools we use. I’m still using my email client, but it’s mostly about my calendar.

Of course, I’m still sending emails, but it’s basically for communication with companies and organizations that don’t yet have access to modern communication tools, or that we haven’t yet invited them to any of our collaboration solutions. I now only have the daily communication with my colleagues and my customers through Microsoft Teams.

“What is it that Microsoft Teams give me who has made me, in such a short time, able to reduce (read stop) the use of email as the primary communication channel?”

I now have one (1) “work surface” to relate to.

• I have stopped using Skype. Microsoft Teams give me everything I need. I have Group discussions and “file sharing”, with colleagues and customers in the team where we work together. I have private conversations with colleagues and customers through private chat in Microsoft Teams.
• When it comes to Video meetings and Screen Sharing I can choose to do either in a  conversation in a channel or via private chat. I can also plan-, invite to- and have Team Meetings with much better quality than I could ever do via Skype.
• All history of conversations and chats are stored, and I can easily retrieve a previous dialogue to update the memory of what was said or agreed. Now I don’t have to look for sent and received emails.
• I can comment on documents in the place (the Channel) where the document and the comments belong. I no longer need to (but I still can) write comments in the documents or use “track changes”. Best of all, I never need to send email with attached files to get feedback on the contents of the files. I just ask the group members for a comment directly through the chat connected to the document.
• I can easily call for attention by “mentioning” some people or those who follow a channel or all members of the entire team.
• In each Team you can have one or more “Planners” where you can handle the tasks related to the work. One can also have one or more notebooks (OneNote) where you write notes from meetings etc.
• I can follow what is most relevant to me and I can choose to follow or “hide” things that are not directly relevant to the work I am going to do.
• I can choose what i want to get notified about (and how often), thus reducing the disturbances in everyday life. If I get a notice, I know it’s because it’s of importance for me.

“With more control and less interference, I can focus on what’s important and relevant to me. (As a bonus, I am also less tired when the working day is over.)”

I have taken control of my priorities. I am no longer disturbed by email notifications that appear all day. I can focus on what is important to me, and I have control over the dialogues I have with customers and colleagues. I know where to find the documents I need.

I will certainly continue to use email for a some more years, but only when I need to. I can’t imagine going back to using email for internal communication or dialogue with customers who are “inside the system”.

What about you?

How many hours, per day, do you use to send and reply to email messages? Maybe you should consider using Microsoft Teams? I guarantee that it is worth testing and I’m pretty sure you won’t regret it.