"Jim Henderson" <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote in message
news:4b67555e@news.povray.org...
> On Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:25:23 -0500, Warp wrote:
>
> > Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:

> I really hate when people leave me a voice mail that is
nothing more than
> name, number, and "call me".  I tend to reply via e-mail
to those if I
> know the person's e-mail address.--Jim

I do that too...
I can't answer the phone while I'm
programming or working on a server...

~db

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Jim Henderson wrote:
> Even if you don't care about the answer, that's a great way to get people 
> to start talking.

I think perhaps it's better to say "even if you only care about the answer 
to the extent that it gives you something further to ask about."  Asking and 
then ignoring the answer is off-putting as well.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Forget "focus follows mouse." When do
   I get "focus follows gaze"?

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Jim Henderson wrote:
> They're busy people so getting to the point quickly is critical. 

Him: "That's good, but can you make an executive summary?"

Me: "You really want an executive summary of three sentences?"

Him: "I think it would be a good idea."

Me: "Then it's probably not worth presenting at all."

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Forget "focus follows mouse." When do
   I get "focus follows gaze"?

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Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> I really hate making phone calls - but I have to agree with you that
> it's usually far, far more efficient for sorting out anything that
> requires some kind of complex negotiation.

The main problem I see with email exchanges is this:  people don't like to read.

Nerds like you and me, yes, general population, no.  Doesn't matter if you have
a clear text with everything needed covered and explained in minute detail:
people just won't read and will eventually phone you to talk "about the email".

Hate the phone.  Hate dumb people.

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Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> On Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:25:23 -0500, Warp wrote:
> Personally, I
> prefer written communications because I have a chance to think about what
> I'm going to say and to research my answer.

Precisely!

Despite being quite verborragic on the web/newsgroups, I'm a pretty silent soul
on the physical side.  I don't know, I think it's the lack of a blinking
cursor...

> >   I wonder if it's the age. Is looking well over 30 some kind of natural
> > repellent for people? They are not interested in a mid-aged man as much
> > as they are in a younger one?

Yes.  Young ladies want young, muscular fellows or rich middle-aged folks.
Older women want youngsters.  People with kids only care for the kids to care
for the aged weirdo at the next cubicle.  Only geeks care for geeks.

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Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> When talking with executives,
> especially in writing, brevity is important.

It's important because the dicks can't read.

I can be brief when cursing.

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On Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:05:55 -0500, nemesis wrote:

> Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> When talking with executives,
>> especially in writing, brevity is important.
> 
> It's important because the dicks can't read.

Actually, in my experience, that's not the case.  It is the case that 
when you're a highly-paid person on staff (executive or not), time is 
money, so wasting time is wasting money.

I'm sorry you've had bad experiences, as you've clearly had, or you 
wouldn't have felt it necessary to phrase it like that.

> I can be brief when cursing.

I can too, but I find that also is not particularly constructive if 
you're trying to effect positive change.  If you're trying to affect a 
change of employer, that is a very effective tool.

Jim

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On Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:54:11 -0800, Darren New wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> They're busy people so getting to the point quickly is critical.
> 
> Him: "That's good, but can you make an executive summary?"
> 
> Me: "You really want an executive summary of three sentences?"
> 
> Him: "I think it would be a good idea."
> 
> Me: "Then it's probably not worth presenting at all."

LOL, I have run into that a couple times as well.  Becomes an excuse to 
do something else. :-)

Jim

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On Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:53:02 -0500, nemesis wrote:

> Doesn't matter if you
> have a clear text with everything needed covered and explained in minute
> detail: 

That's often the problem, though - people don't *want* the minute 
detail.  They want the overall high-level picture.

Most people don't care about the details.  Take my example from earlier; 
I don't particularly care that he's adding two lines of code.  I care 
about what the result is - and the result that was explained to me was in 
such minute detail as a single run-on sentence as to be completely 
incomprehensible.

Jim

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On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:21:57 -0500, Jim Henderson wrote:

> On Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:53:02 -0500, nemesis wrote:
> 
>> Doesn't matter if you
>> have a clear text with everything needed covered and explained in
>> minute detail:
> 
> That's often the problem, though - people don't *want* the minute
> detail.  They want the overall high-level picture.
> 
> Most people don't care about the details.  Take my example from earlier;
> I don't particularly care that he's adding two lines of code.  I care
> about what the result is - and the result that was explained to me was
> in such minute detail as a single run-on sentence as to be completely
> incomprehensible.

Dang, hit send too soon.

The rest of my thought here is that I found the explanation 
incomprehensible, and I actually understand tech-speak.  If my director, 
VP, or CEO had received it, they'd have likely binned it because the 
language would be completely foreign to them.

Jim

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