For over 20 years, email has been a revolutionary means of communication across industries. It’s made communication fast, easy and efficient. Every day, over 293 billion emails are sent around the world.
Still, we’re at a point where email is no longer efficient for most types of communication. In fact, we lose 21 minutes per day just checking our email. That’s time wasted without even reading – let alone responding to – a single email.
This brings us to a simple truth: The more emails people send, the less work gets done.
It’s a huge problem for technical managers – most say they barely get to do their work because of the sheer volume of emails. This leads to delayed projects, out-of-control budgets and unhappy clients.
How much time does E-mail take you?
Technical managers get 200 or more emails every day. These are mostly urgent requests that need a response – just letting them go unanswered is not an option.
Still, to put this into perspective, here’s a quick calculation to show you how much time it would take to respond to all emails received:
How to stop doing other people’s jobs
Even if you responded to every email with lightning speed, it would still take you at least seven hours per day just to manage your emails effectively.
Therefore, by the time your working day is over, you haven’t been able to visit any sites, send out tenders or review offers. In other words, at the end of the day you’ll have done everybody’s job except your own.
So what’s the solution? You’ll only be able to improve the situation through a change in mindset.
That means clearly defining your core responsibilities and goals – then doing everything in your power to accomplish those goals.
At the same time, you can’t just stop responding to requests.
How can you move beyond this Catch-22?
The solution is to communicate more efficiently and effectively using the right tools. We’ll show you how.
Using the right tools will help you achieve inbox Zero
Most technical managers receive two types of requests in their inbox. We’ll give you a brief overview of both types of requests and how you can keep these requests out of your inbox.
1. Project related questions
Problem
Usually, these questions come in after sending out an RFP. Contractors have dozens of questions each, and need quick answers.
Solution
You need a platform where you collect all questions that come in about a project. You can then set aside some time every day to respond to those questions.
Since the questions are on a platform that everyone has access to, all contractors will immediately see the answers you gave already, meaning you’re no longer duplicating your work.
2. Property related questions
Problem
Technical managers spend a lot of time responding to questions from asset managers: creating reports, sharing documents, giving status updates, etc…
Solution
What technical managers need here, is a platform that allows asset managers to check the status of work in progress, pull reports and find certificates and other documents.
They can do this whenever they need to, without needing to contact the technical manager responsible.
How Proprli.com can help
Not many tech solutions offer these kinds of features. But, if you use more advanced tools than email to solve these communication issues, you’ve got a solution with a huge potential upside on your hands.
You’ll have more time to manage projects, making important decisions and adding true value by delivering high-quality projects within budget and on time.
