Instant Messaging is a Dumb Idea
Walk the halls of any decent sized software company. Stick your head into the
offices of the code monkeys. I guarantee you a significant proportion of the
phones will be set to divert to voicemail. If you were biassed and only visited
the most productive people, there may even be a majority of them set that way.
Why ?
The biggest enemy of creative thought is interruption. When you are in the
flow, ideas and code come easily, and if that flow is disturbed it takes
significant time to get back into the right frame of mind. The flow is almost
addictive, and I for one enjoy being there. In that state, I'm much more
productive. The same is most likely true of other creative types who spend their
time at the screen - like writers.
That's why email is so riotously successful - it's communication you can
control. Geeks are big on control. It's also why instant messaging is dumb. It's
interruptive and attention demanding. It's a telephone on steroids. And people
want to add voice, even video ! By telephoning me or messaging me, you
implicitly state that your time is more important than mine. I tend to disagree.
Microsoft thinks IM is so important they've incorporated into Windows XP, and
even made it hard for you to de-install it. They think their audience consists
primarily of the time-rich text-messaging generation : teenagers. It's evidence that Microsoft
is turning its attention away from the office desk and the time-poor knowledge
worker. Those folks are the ones that made Microsoft rich.
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