[spaceheretostay]

> “We found that on days when managers reported high email demands, they report lower perceived work progress as a result, and in turn engage in fewer effective leader behaviors,” says Johnson.

It seems this is largely a disparity in expectations of work. The managers self-reported feeling like they got less done when replying to more emails. But isn't supporting their team and being able to rapidly answer questions often part of a manager's job? And if not, perhaps they are in the wrong role.

I would be more interested in measuring overall team productivity, not just the manager's self-reported version. I think you might find that the high-email-throughput teams do get more done with that extra emailing, even if the manager feels like they have been less productive.

[quanticle]

I was about to post something similar. Let's say, as a conservative estimate, a manager oversees 5 ICs. Let's also assume, generously, that the manager becomes 50% more productive if he or she doesn't reply to e-mails until the end of the day. If the "overflow" from that strategy causes the ICs to become even 5% less productive, the gain in the manager's productivity is more than wiped out, and the team as a whole is worse off.

A large part of a manager's job is to shield his or her team from e-mails, Slack messages, and other productivity-sapping interruptions. If a manager is grading him or herself by their individual productivity, they're doing management wrong. If an organization is grading its managers by their individual productivity, rather than whether their teams are meeting their objectives, the organization is doing management wrong.

[jxcl]

What does IC stand for?

[pwinnski]

Individual Contributor

[snarf21]

I agree with your point completely. What are we measuring? Some people's work is intended only to make other people more productive. Knowledge work can't have everyone 100% isolated to get 100% productivity. This is a sliding scale and where good managers get paid for maximizing their team's productivity.

[sidlls]

Emails are one medium to support my team. They're not suitable for a rapid response to anything. If something is that urgent it warrants an in-person conversation or video conference.

E-mails are great for medium to large scale logistics and status communication: organizing meetings, ensuring participants have access to necessary documentation, and communicating the status of some on going project.