Email is such a funny thing. People hand you these single little messages that are no heavier than a river pebble. But it doesn’t take long until you have acquired a pile of pebbles that’s taller than you and heavier than you could ever hope to move, even if you wanted to do it over a few dozen trips. But for the person who took the time to hand you their pebble, it seems outrageous that you can’t handle that one tiny thing. “What ‘pile’? It’s just a fucking pebble!�
Merlin Mann
There are many ways to contact me but some are more effective than others. This is a brief guide to how I’m doing my comms as of August 2008.
Phone
07775 690 106
Please consider one of the other methods before calling me. A phone call is inherently disruptive and since it’s a mobile I could be anywhere. 9 times out of 10 it’ll be okay but please consider one of the other methods before calling.
That said, I’m usually happy to chat on the phone and can do with a break. Use your judgement.
Voicemail is possibly one of the most inefficient means of communicating information. By all means leave a message but if there’s something I need to write down, like an address or phone number, please text or email it.
Text messages are great but please say who you are unless you know you’re in my address book.
peteashton [at] gmail.com
Email is a good way of sending me information but my response rate is very hit and miss. Sometimes I’ll reply immediately, sometimes I’ll put it off for ages. This often depends on how complex your email is. Keep it simple and clear with links for further info and I’m more likely to answer. Give me a load of jumbled up stuff to process and 20 questions and I probably won’t.
Please feel free to follow up emails if I don’t answer. I usually intend to reply and just need a kick up the arse.
Since I get a lot of circulars from the Created in Birmingham days I do tend to filter quite heavily. You’re welcome to send me stuff about your events but unless I feel a personal connection I’ll likely ignore them.
If an email is specific to a certain project (such as the Custard Factory site) please make that clear.
Attachments are fine but I don’t have Microsoft Word and have no desire to buy it. I can open Word files in Google Docs and Apple’s TextEdit but fancy formatting tends to vanish. PDFs are good, as are txt or rtf files.
I use Twitter a lot but more in a random cloud sense than a one-to-one communications sense. Direct Messages sent through Twitter are fine, especially if you don’t have my email or phone number to hand. I get DMs on my phone so they’re a good way to contact me on the move*, and they’re also archived as emails. All this is assuming Twitter is working so caveats apply. At the end of the day Twitter is not for important stuff – take that to email – but the unimportant stuff that makes everything interesting.
* Twitter aren’t sending SMS’s to UK users right now so this isn’t as effective as it was. Text me instead.
Instant Messaging
Gtalk: peteashton [at] gmail.com
Skype: peteash10
AIM: peteash10
I use IM a lot these days for what I call ambient conversations. Mostly this works best with people I already have a rapport with as we know the rule. This rule is that an IM chat will be as long as necessary and no longer, and the shorter the better. Starting an IM chat is not a commitment to a long conversation. IM is analogous to working opposite each other in an office. Here’s a good example of the ideal IM chat:
You: Busy?
Me: Nah. What’s up?
You: You know that thing you mentioned. You got a link?
Me: This thing? http://link.com
You: That’s the bunny. Ta!
Me: np. See ya later.
Gtalk and AIM are accessed through the excellent Adium multi-account application. Skype is on for my relatives in New Zealand and you’re welcome to ask to be added to my book. Which leads us to…
Skype calls
peteash10
If you want to talk over Skype please IM before calling. I work in a wide variety of places with a wide range of internet speeds so it might not be suitable. Not to mention background noise.
Social Network Mail
MySpace is dead to me. Do not bother mailing me within MySpace. Use normal email please.
FaceBook I use for events and stuff but would prefer you to use normal email for communications. The reason is FaceBook sends me all manner of nonsense notifications which I file away and rarely check. If your message is in there I probably won’t get to it for a week.
Flickr Mail isn’t as effective as it used to be for me as I don’t go there much these days. Normal email please.
You’re probably seeing a pattern here.
Blog comments
Leaving a comment on my blog that should really be an email is just wrong. If it’s nothing to do with the post in question then get in touch with me some other way. This doesn’t happen very often, happy to say.
