Tag Archives: email

Batteries recharged

Leave a reply

Tomorrow is the last day of our winter break and I have to say that I feel fully ready to get back to work. January is probably my busiest month and if I’m honest, I was not looking forward to starting back after the break.

And now I’m ready.

I can’t say that I fully shut down, but I did so far more than usual, and I think that’s part of the reason I feel so recharged. It’s a little unfortunate that I’m figuring this out so late in my career. For example, I didn’t ignore email, but I realized that there really isn’t much that can’t wait for a response this coming Monday or Tuesday. So I let it go. Earlier in my career I would have felt compelled to respond right away, often unintentionally inviting another email and more work… when the need for a response was not urgent.

Both ‘letting go’ and ‘turning off’ are cathartic, refuelling. Understanding that not just my body but my brain also needs a break is the reason I’m ready.

But first, I have one more Sunday to enjoy.

Flipping the switch

Leave a reply

My work switch used to be turned on all the time. I’d respond to an email after 11pm, or even during dinner. I’d get to work around 7:15am and frequently stay at work until I was late for dinner. Furthermore, not only did I wear this work ethic like a professional uniform, I also used the word ‘busy’ like it was a badge of honour.

What I lacked was balance.

I think I still struggle with balance but it is getting better. The place this really shows is when I turn the ‘work’ switch off. It started with my vampire rule for email, whereby like a vampire not being allowed to enter your house without an invitation, I do not permit myself to send anyone an email after 6pm unless I’m invited in… unless I am sent an email requesting a response. Otherwise, my email can wait until the morning, rather than interrupt anyone in the evening.

When my switch is on, I’ll give my all, but when my switch is off, this is where I’ve gotten better. Now I am better at not being a slave to email. I am also better at not perseverating over things I need to do at work while I’m at home.

The one challenge in getting here has been letting go of the guilt. I know it’s healthy to toggle the switch off, but for a long time I felt guilty doing it, and if I’m honest, I still struggle sometimes. It would be nice if it was as simple as literally flipping a switch, but it isn’t. Sometimes the work light still flickers when it is supposed to be off.

Generic platitudes

Leave a reply

One of the odd little things about running two schools in my district is that often, when someone has gotten hold of our school mailing list to send out emails, I get two of them… one for each school. So when I see a letter designed to be personalized, but is actually a form letter, I get to see it in duplicate.

Here is the introduction to one of those letters that I got twice:

“Dear David,

I’ve been researching schools in the Vancouver, B.C. area and was truly impressed to learn that your school stands among the very best. Because of that, I’d love the opportunity to speak to your students, teachers, and parents while l’m in Vancouver on my speaking tour from November 4th to 7th, 2025.”

(Cue a sarcastic tone) Isn’t that flattering!

In this day and age you have two choices: Either do research and really move from platitude to sincere compliment, or skip the platitude altogether. It’s not honest, it’s insulting. Even if I don’t get it twice, I’d know this letter was insincere, but it becomes especially insulting when I get to see it repeated in my inbox.

I don’t have the time to waste doing this, but I’d get a kick out of calling this person up, thanking them for the email, and asking them exactly what it is that made them, ‘truly impressed to learn that (my) school stands among the very best’?

Anyway, this is my public service announcement: Don’t send out generic platitudes. It’s neither flattering nor effective. And in fact, it feels a little insulting.

AI Infiltration

Leave a reply

Do you want an AI to be able to read and reply to your email? Wouldn’t that be great? Yes, but I’m not doing it!

My personal email is a gateway to everything I do on the web, and that includes my digital banking. It also includes access to EVERY web tool that I use. I can’t count the number of times that I’ve used ‘Forgot my password’ on a website, or an app, and retrieved that information in my email. So, my email gives me, and anyone or anything that has my password a lot of control over the online tools that I regularly use.

As an aside, this is why two-factor authentication is so important, it protects you from someone having full control of everything you do online, simply by having access to your email. Yet, to me, this protection isn’t enough to allow me to give an AI agent access to my email. To me, this is allowing too much access to my whole digital life.

It’s not the reading of my email I’m concerned about. And frankly, I’d love to have an AI respond to basic email communication on my behalf, or to add items to my calendar for me. That would be great. But to do that I’m essentially saying to an AI company, “I’m an open book, go ahead and read me in order to train your AI model.’ And I’m also allowing an Agent full access to my digital life.

What happens when a ‘helpful’ agent decides that in order to help me it needs access to my online banking to make a purchase? Or worse yet, what happens when an AI is injected with a virus designed to collect my passwords and to update this passwords, then delete the ‘Forgot password’ emails so I don’t even know they were changed.

We’ve already seen countless examples of people being able to trick an AI into giving access to programming information that should have been kept private. Or people convincing an AI to respond to inappropriate questions it was trained not to respond to. Knowing this is not terribly hard to do, what makes you believe an AI agent with full access to your email, your life online, can’t be convinced or exploited to share your information and access in a way that will completely compromise you and your personal information?

I’m not convinced the risk is worth the reward. As I use AI more, I’m using it as a tool to help me understand and connect to the world in better, more efficient ways. But I’m not ready to let AI into my email and into my digital life. I’m wondering when the horror stories of full identity theft are going to start to happen? And I’m guessing these stories are going to start with, “I gave an AI agent access to my email.”

Work lurks

Leave a reply

I have gotten a lot better at leaving work at work over the last few years. I’d happily stay at work some days past 5:30 or 6pm, knowing that when I go home I can let things go until I arrive back at work the next day. That never used to be the case. I used to regularly respond to emails and continue to work well into the night.

What started to change this for me was my Vampire Rule for Email that I started for my staff, essentially never contacting them for anything work related after 6pm (unless like if I was a vampire, they invited me in… If they emailed me a question for example). After doing this for a few years, I realized I deserved the same courtesy. So, I’d stay at work a bit longer, knowing that if I was caught up enough on important matters, everything else could wait until the next day.

It’s a little different in the summer, when I’m off for so long. Today I looked at my growing unread emails, and realized there are a few things I need to deal with. Today I did a few quick ones, but I’ve got a few that need a more thoughtful or time consuming responses. Now it’s in my head and I know that if I don’t deal with them tomorrow, I’m going to spend some mental energy thinking about the fact that I need to respond.

Essentially, I either deal with it quickly, or work just lurks in my brain rent free, with niggling reminders that there is stuff I need to do. Because I don’t have an official work day coming up anytime soon, the idea that there is work on my plate stays on my plate and on my mind until I get it done. My choices are get it done tomorrow morning or think about it the whole weekend.

I’m definitely better at letting go and having mental breaks during the school year, but on holidays I still need to do these mental gymnastics to keep work from lurking in my mind when I should be enjoying my break.

Invisible shield

The reason casinos give you chips instead of using cash is because chips are not money. Losing a $25 chip doesn’t feel as bad as losing 25 dollars. The chip is a chip, it’s not money. I think there is a similar thing going on with rude comments on the internet and the brazen use of email, messaging, and commenting of the kinds of things people would never say face-to-face.

It’s like there is an invisible shield that people think goes up when they communicate online. People feel that they are given permission to say whatever (the ****) they want to say because they are not actually saying it to someone’s face. Like somehow it’s not a real insult because it’s not in-person. It’s once removed, like the poker chip, it isn’t ‘as real’.

But it is.

The invisible shield is not really a shield. It’s a facade, it appears to be a sort of shield or protection but it’s not. The rude and condescending email is an insult even if it wasn’t said directly in a conversation. The rude, misogynist, hateful, and/or insulting comment online isn’t funny, it isn’t appropriate, and it could have consequences. Anonymity is not guaranteed, and consequences can be significant.

There is no invisible shield. Words matter no matter where you say them. More and more people are finding this out the hard way.

Dearest Principal

I mentioned in my podcast with Dean Shareski that a favourite part of my job is asking myself, “How do I get to ‘Yes’?” when students come to me with big ideas and challenges that are not easy accommodate in a school. Yesterday I had an easy one, any easy ‘Yes’ when a student came to me wanting us to purchase a silk screen printing kit.

The student came to my office with the pitch just a couple minutes before I was set to have an online meeting. I told her that I had the meeting coming up and asked if she could email me, and one of my teachers, and explain why this was something good for the school, and to provide me with an Amazon link to the kit she wanted to purchase. Knowing the kid, I probably should have expected what I got from her 35 minutes later, but still, I had to chuckle at her email. Here it is in full. If you don’t want to read it all, the funniest ‘justifications’ were #12 and #15. Also noteworthy is #6, her commitment to make it easier for others to use.

Dearest Mr.Truss,

We have gathered here today to discuss the impacts a screen printer would serve this school, If you kindly agree to the purchase.

PROS

Number one. It will elevate the school’s shirt making/crafting personality. As you may know the school already own a Cricut (only cuts one colour) and a sublimation printer (only prints on white polyester shirts). We need to fill an obvious gap. We need a tool that can print multiple colours on a darker coloured shirt. A screen printer would be able to achieve this and not only that but….

Number two. It saves on material/waste used. As you may or may not have noticed but the Cricut requires the user to weed our bits of material that is unwanted in a design, creating lots of little bits of garbage. The sublimation printer uses entire sheets of paper per design. The screen printer however would not add to the amount of waste produced from our shirt making machine collection. 

Number three. I have talked with Mr.Hopkins and he thinks it’s a good idea. He mentioned that he would consider making it a media arts project so other student would be able to learn how the process works. 

Number four. The screen printer is not even a machine tbh. It’s literally just a frame and some ink. So it wouldn’t take up much space in the classroom. 

Number five. Though you might think that the ink will be messy, I assure you that I will personally make sure that anyone using it will have the proper coverage on the surfaces they’re working on. 

Number six. I will create a document with step by step instructions so people can refer to it if they need reminders or instruction on how to work it. 

Number seven. Because the screen printing screens are reusable and because screen printing itself is long lasting. It opens the possibility to mass produce clothing. Similar to the pink shirt day assembly line, we could possibly make clothing or designs for the school. 

Number eight. The Amazon kit that I am proposing provides a light. We could use the light for Media Arts as well. 

Number nine. Your students will be amazed. Incoming students will be impressed with the amount of tools at their disposal. There are many students who are interested in fashion, so they could perhaps use this new system to create their own clothing designs. 

Number ten. It does not require the use of the heat press. Unlike the Cricut and sublimation printer you won’t have to worry about students burning or pinching themselves in a hot press. 

Number eleven. The kit itself is reusable, with the photo emulsion remover you’ll be able to put different design on the screen, so you won’t have to spend more money on more screens. And even if, for whatever reason it does need a new screen, you can probably go to fabricana to get some cheaper screen and purchase it by the yard. 

Number twelve. If you desire I could make u a complimentary shirt. 

Number thirteen. If you’re gonna mass produce shirts for the school, maybe you could create shirts to sell to other people and earn more than the money you invested into this kit. I’m just saying, you’ve got students who are good graphic designers, it may be time to put them to work. 

Number fourteen. Mr. Sarte was talking to me about how beneficial a screen printer could be last year, so he’ll probably be happy if you get it too. 

Number fifteen. As a student I really value my time, but I’m sure you can imagine how much time it has taken me to write this email, thus i think it is important and worth my limited time. I could be working on my UBC personal profile right now…..

Number sixteen. This screen printer will bring you’re students closer together. It is with this screen printer that we will become an even tighter knit community. I mean you could create intramural shirts with this thing. 

CONS

Number one. It doesn’t come with yellow ink, so could we please get some so we’ll have all the primary colours and can mix different colours from there?

Thank you for considering this purchase. I’d be deeply grateful if you gifted the school with a screen printer. 

Here is a link to the Amazon kit that has all the tools we would need. [Link to item]

Here is a link to some yellow ink. [Link to item]

Much appreciation,
[Student full name]

All that for a $180 purchase of an item the whole school can use. Here was my response:

Thank you for using your valuable time for this proposal [Student name]!

My concern isn’t the cost of the purchase, but rather the quality.
I’ve asked a few teachers if this will do, or if we should spend a bit more on a kit that is more durable/better quality… You too can make suggestions (if you have time).

Thanks,
Dave

If I didn’t have a meeting that I had to attend just a couple minutes after this student came to my office, this would probably just have been a short conversation and an easy ‘Yes’. As much as the bad timing created a lot more ‘work’ for the student, I’m glad that it happened this way. I think it’s a valuable process for a student to through, and if I’m honest, reading her email was the highlight of my day.

The right to disconnect

I’ve already shared my vampire rule for email:

“After 6 PM staff only get emails from me if the email is invited in. In other words, if they have asked me a question and want an answer, then a response has been invited. But if that invitation for a response isn’t there, I delay email delivery until the next morning.

So like a vampire at the front door, I can’t enter (with email) if I have something to share that is not initiated (and therefore invited in) by my staff. New topics are set to be delivered early the next morning.”

Yesterday a parent wanted me to contact one of my online teachers, who is on her last week of summer holidays, to get her son started in a course. I said no. I told the parent that I would send a scheduled message to the teacher the first day back (and I did), but that I was not interrupting my teacher’s holidays.

The Australia government just protected employees “right to disconnect”. According to a CNN report, “As of Monday, people won’t have to answer out of hours calls, texts, or emails.”

Laws are one way to ensure it, but I don’t think we need laws to be thoughtful and respectful about work/life boundaries. I think we can choose thoughtfulness over convenience, and be respectful of people’s time and attention. Like I mentioned to the parent (who was very understanding), if I interrupt a teacher’s holiday for this, there is no specific line I can draw to respect the teacher’s rights to a holiday.

We can all probably draw better boundaries between work and the rest of our lives, but what’s more important is that no matter where we draw our own lines does not allow us to choose for others too. Regardless of where our lines are, we need to be respectful of other people’s rights to unplug and disconnect from work when they are away from work.

Block and Move to Junk

I might have shared a similar rant before, but I had to deal with this a few times last week and I hope at least one person in sales will learn from this.

If you cold email me with a product or service when we have had no relationship beforehand, that’s a cold call, it’s a virtual knock on a strangers email door. I find it annoying. I understand it’s hard to get your product in front of people and while I don’t like it much, I tolerate it.

However, when you then follow up with an email saying, “I haven’t heard back from you…” Well now that’s just rude. I don’t owe you anything for taking my unsolicited time to look at and maybe even read your first message. You didn’t hear from me because I’m not interested. How many thousands of ‘I haven’t heard back from you’ emails do you have to send to get a positive response? I bet it’s astronomically low. I bet your time would have been better used elsewhere.

On Friday, I got a call from someone who had sent me an email and a follow up. The only reason it got through my secretary is because the product name had the word ‘class’ in it, my secretary thought the voice sounded like a student, and I said to put it through instead of asking her to take a message like I usually do. When he started in with, “Hi, I’m [Name] from [Company], I’m not sure if you’ve had a chance to look at my last 2 emails…” I was already done. I was actually politer than I needed to be and started into a routine I’ve gotten pretty good at. I start with ‘We’ve gone through a lot of changes in the last while and I’m not interested in adding anything new at this time… and I go on for about 10 more seconds on double speed and end with, ‘I wish you all the best but we really are not interested, thanks, bye’. And I hang up even if the person has time to respond.

No, if I didn’t respond to your first email then I’m not interested in your product or even a free trial. A follow up email won’t help. A follow up email then phone call is doubly obnoxious. In fact, you can be sure of two things. First, I don’t want to work with you even if your product is great. And second, I won’t see a third email from you because I’ve blocked you and moved your email to junk. If enough of us did that after second unsolicited cold-call emails, that company email address might even find itself on the wrong side of spam filters… and I’m ok with that because if their first email wasn’t spam to begin with, their second email was definitely was.

Buried in messages

I hate email. It’s a monster, and right now it’s a HUGE monster for me. I’m just surfacing from the longest leave I’ve ever taken from work. I was heavily medicated until late last week and choose to be ‘completely off’ rather than working from home. I’ve never done that before. I’ve always worked while away, and did my best to keep up. But the medication was enough that I lacked judgement and knew better than to try and communicate (or even drive). So, as I look to return to work this week, I see that I have 840 unread emails. That would have been larger if I hadn’t peeked at a few (hundred) along the way, but I never once tried very much Now it’s time.

I know that hundreds will be ones I can just delete. I know that some will be informational and I can read and delete, or file away. I know that some will be ‘ball drops’ where I should have read and followed up with days or even weeks ago, although I did have an auto-response to contact the office. And I know it will take longer than this week to get through them all.

What I hope happens is that most of them are just destined for the delete folder and I can see just how unimportant email is compared to everything else I need to do at work. My direct team that I work with communicate with me on Microsoft TEAMS and they have been very respectful of me being away… so there won’t be a lot there that is overly urgent, especially with a very competent leader assisting while I was away. So, I’ll pick away at it, starting tomorrow. Today I joined my team online for a Pro-D session and then after a short nap I joined my PAC meeting remotely as well. My eyes are blurry and it’s off to bed early tonight. Hopefully the email monster will be tamed by early next week.