An attendee at a lecture at a multinational tech company pointed out to me that part of his problem with email overload stems from situations where he is part of a functional distribution list, say “All Engineering”. Some messages to the entire group he does need, but there are other specific recurrent  messages that other engineers need and he doesn’t. Then when he goes to the sender and asks to get off, he is told it can’t be done – you can’t “unsubscribe” from the list: if you’re an engineer, you are automatically included and cursed for all eternity to receive anything sent to “All Engineering”.

Now, it would be nice if the organization had communication tools that do allow unsubscribing from a list for specific types of messages; such tools can be developed and would certainly be worth the development cost. But until that happens, the issue boils down to this express or implied conversation:

Recipient: I need you to stop sending me the weekly debug report. I’m not involved in debugging.
Sender: Sorry, can’t help you there. I send it to “All Engineering”.
Recipient: Well, can’t you send it to a list of “All Engineering minus myself”?
Sender: You really mean I should craft a special dist list just for your convenience?!?!! Yeah right!

And this is where it ends, one line before the correct ending, which would add:

Recipient: Yes, I do!

This may sound presumptuous to the sender, but the recipient is right: he has every right to expect the sender go to this extra effort. It may take the sender five minutes, a small one-time effort – but it would save the recipient – possibly many of them – recurring distractions and time loss going forward. It is a reasonable request and in the best interest of the organization.

How do you react to such a demand? And, as a recipient, do you have the courage to say, Yes, I do?