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Email no longer rules?? I think not...

I recently read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal entitled Why Email No Longer Rules... . The editor references email as being more suited to how people used to use the web when we actually logged on and off and were our own content pipeline managers and cites social networking experiences such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google Wave as more relevant for today's communication preferences. The article makes some excellent points that I would agree with, but I cannot say that I necessarily agree with the foundational argument that email no longer rules.

For one, people are switching to new ways to connect using much more interactive methods such as networking sites, SMS, and instant messaging. But this doesn't necessarily make email any less relevant. Email is used by many organizations both in the private and public sector as the communication method of choice to send messages both internally and externally. One reason for this is that it leaves a digital trail - a way to track who is saying what and an excellent way to pass on information that you simply can't do by way of a text or comment on a social networking site. Email growth last month was 21% while social networking site adoption was closer to 31%, so email is certainly seeing slower growth, but my thinking is that it is still highly relevant if you are talking numbers of users worldwide.

Secondly, email has already passed the spam test. It has been hammered on by spammers for nearly a decade until the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 came about. Social sites have yet to endure the test as spammers are only now finding ways to infiltrate those spaces using fake accounts and bots that ask to add friends automatically. What will happen when people start to get barranged with spam in their social networking sites the way we once will in our inbox? My thinking is that usage will not wane but the adoption rate will be affected.

Finally, there is a benefit to turning off and tuning out. Just because a communication channel encompasses a quicker turnaround time does not necessarily make it better or suited for all types of communication. I know many people who are fine with sending a message and then waiting for a turnaround response. Imagine the thoughtless society we would wither away to if EVERY communication warranted a response within 5 minutes? We certainly wouldn't have time to ask the right people the right questions or put in the amount of thought necessary for an enlightened response.

I am not saying that email is king by a long shot, but that it is still highly relevant in both private and public communications and will continue to be throughout the next decade.

Love your job?

Do you love your job? Would it give you no greater pleasure than to show up to work everyday and perform your job for free, if you could? How much do you need to make in order to provide for yourself and your dependents? If you had that money in the bank what would you spend your time doing? If the answer is something far from what you are currently doing, you're in the wrong business.

I love my job. I work with some pretty awesome and very talented people, and we are working to change people's lives. It's amazing!! It probably doesn't hurt that my career builds upon my media arts degree and is an environment that inspires creativity and growth.

The reason for this post is to tell you that it doesn't have to be this way. I know. I was once working for a small bay area marketing firm and making GREAT money but working crazy hours and absolutely miserable. It got to the point where I wondered if I could ever be happy with my career again. If you find yourself in this boat, please please please make the decision to make a major change today. Go back to school, take some classes, switch career fields - whatever it takes. You'll be so much happier if you are doing what you were created to do.

This is a perfect time to make a change. With the economy the way that it is, many professionals are taking the opportunity to make a change and do something that is more suited to them. Even if this means a reduction in salary - switch out some salary for quality of life if you can swing it. You'll be glad you did! See also ThisBookisGreat.com

Leave a Green Couch behind

So the other day I heard a hilarious approach to getting a project approved with very few details (that you care about) being pulled or rejected. It was in a topic pages meeting and my good friend and collegue Dallas Petersen was speaking. The principle is called Leave A Green Couch Behind, and the impetus came from a set designer who was tired of having a director come in and make serious changes to his set. So one day he dresses his set perfectly, and then adds an ugly green couch to the soundstage. The director comes in, looks around, and says, "love it, love it, love it - well, let's lose the green couch and we're golden!"

The thinking behind this principle is that on every level of management there must be a contribution made, and so in order to save his work from being completely changed around he threw in an obvious change to manage his management, something that he could quickly extract himself if the change wasn't caught. From that day on the designer began looking for something extra he could throw in, the proverbial "green couch" if you will. Not to say that this is the best or even a very effective approach but certainly a fun tidbit worth sharing ;)

Only a Stonecutter

T.C. Christensen has done it again! From the masterful director of photography who brought us Touch of the Master's Hand and Work & the Glory comes an unforgettable short film that beautifully depicts the life of John Moyle.

From the film's description:

There are two kinds of people in this world, those who choose to act and those who are acted upon. In 1856 John Rowe Moyle and his family chose to act by leaving their beloved England, crossing the plains with the Ellsworth handcart company to eventually settle in Alpine, Utah. Soon after their arrival John Moyle was called by Brigham Young to work as a stone mason on the Salt Lake Temple. For 20 years he walked the 22 miles to Salt Lake City to chisel his deepest convictions into granite. Even after and accident causes him to lose his leg, John continued his sojourn to the temple site each week until his death. Today his handiwork can be seen on the east side of the Temple and verbalizes the motto of John's life, "Holiness to the Lord."

Anybody who knows me knows that I love LDS art and LDS film in particular - and T.C. is among one of the finest LDS director/cinematographers out there. I worked with him on the set of Work and the Glory, and he truly is an inspired man and a brilliant filmmaker.

Mary and I first saw this film at the 2008 LDS Film festival and it took my breath away. Here we have the true story of John Moyle, a simple stone mason called to work on the Salt Lake temple in the late 1850's. After a terrible accident, Moyle finds himself without a leg and unable to make the 22 mile journey from Alpine UT to Salt Lake City to work on the Temple and complete his calling. Does that stop him? No, he fashions his own leg and straps it on - determined to serve the Lord at all costs.

That made me reflect on the kind of person that John Moyle was. His diligence in serving was truly remarkable. How many times do I think, "we'll, I tried to place a call and couldn't get a hold of anyone" when it is time to complete hometeaching. Even the title of the film inspires thoughtful reflection: Only a stone cutter, yet when you see the film you will realize that this one man's life touches others still today. It was reminiscent of a talk I read once by Bruce R. McConkie entitled "Only an Elder."

Too often people sell themselves short because of their past history, social status, role or present title. Not John Moyle. His life was truly and amazing one, and I thank T.C. for the hard work and diligence he has put into this great work. I would encourage everyone to go and get a copy of the film and watch it with their family.

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My name is my passport, verify me...

So I've been thinking about what's in a name. I was born with the name James Scott Anderson, but my parents called me Jimmy. As I grew up, I became very close to my older brother, Jason. So close, in fact, that I got confused and would sometimes introduce myself as JasonJimmy.

"Hello, I'm JasonJimmy Anderson." I'd say. I must have heard my parents calling, "Jason! Jimmy! Time to come in!" and think they were referring to me alone. I wasn't an idiot, just four.

Anyway, by third grade or so I had gotten the confusion straightened out, but by that time felt that I was much too mature to be a "Jimmy." So I began going by "James" one year. Totally threw my friends off.

After a few years, I felt that James, though my legal name, was much too stuffy for me (no offense you non-stuffy Jameses out there, esp you James S!) and that I would now be simply "Jim."

That pretty much stuck over the years, until I got into Film School and brought back the "Jimmy." I even had a few screen credits to my name using the screen name "Jimmy Anderson" which I liked because I felt it was much more memorable than plain old "Jim Anderson."

I still go by Jim to most folks, except that I have created somewhat of a system, a way to instantly process calls, emails, and mail based on the sender's use of my name. If the caller (or writer) asks for James, they don't know me at ALL and oftentimes want my money or want me to share private information with them that serves no purpose other than wasting my time and breaking down my system. If they say "Jim" they know me pretty well or have been introduced to me before, at least its not a cold call relationship. And if they call me "Jimmy" I know right away that's it's a member of my inner circle, one of my closest and dearest friends or family members. Most people who know me don't know that I think of myself as "Jimmy" and would probably laugh if they found out. Funny, huh?

One last note: Lately I have found myself creating even more names for myself as I have learned more about the lovely world of advertising. For example, if I have to fill some kind of questionaire out for say, Land's End, but I never want to be seriously contacted by that entity, I might get a bunch of coupons in the mail addressed to a Mr. "LandsEndSpam Anderson" at which point I know exactly who is out there pimping my name. Its always good for a chuckle.