The math of an Email chain letter
Posted: December 10, 2011 Filed under: economy, email, networking, social responsibility, spam, writing | Tags: chain letters, email, spam 1 Comment »It’s been entirely too long since we posted here (sort of the issue of the cobbler’s kids, I know…). Something occurred this evening that I just had to address.
You’ve seen them before: the email chain letters that are full of wonderful intentions, loving messages, prayers… and a request to forward it THIS MINUTE to at least eight people.
I receive an insane volume of email every day, and messages like this that (however well intentioned) amount to chain letters, represent a drain on both the recipients’ time and the email services through which these messages flow.
As a long-time IT professional, I have seen firsthand what an impact this can have on the technology infrastructure, as well as its impact on people’s time and productivity.
Do the math for a moment: if every person on a list of only seven people sent out eight copies as exhorted in one such message, that’s 56 copies just in the first pass. If in turn each of those people send out eight copies, that’s 448. Eight again, and it’s 3584. Another eight, and you have 28,672. Eight each of those makes 229,376. And when those people send out eight copies, you’ve got 1,835,008. So in only six generations of emails, you have over a million being sent…within only minutes if everyone on those lists responds quickly as directed. That’s a million sets of eyeballs reading a message that they have probably received before (I’ve seen this particular example circulating for years). The original sender probably means well, but this is an enormous burden both technically and personally.
Technically, in a “perfect storm” of such responses, it could actually result in an email sending service being overwhelmed. Perhaps less dramatically, but possibly more damaging over a longer period of time, you could actually be dinged by your email provider for sending out SPAM. Yep, it’s true. You could be blacklisted if enough people report it as unsolicited bulk email–the rules are strict and getting more strict by the year.
Frankly, I’d rather hear REAL news, from YOU to ME, telling me how you are (and you are well, I hope!).
It took me five minutes to write this. If all 1,835,008 people spent five minutes, that would be 9,175,040 minutes, or 152,917 hours, or 6,371 days, or 17.45 years spent away from family, community efforts, rest, meditation, music, art, etc.
I’d rather sing or cook. 
Thanks, and be well. Really!
Rebekkah
On Piloting Apptix’s Microsoft hosted services, or, The Borg vs. Gumby
Posted: May 8, 2011 Filed under: partners | Tags: apptix, microsoft, partner, sharepoint Leave a comment »Our first experience as a pilot Apptix customer
Every now and again, SheTech and Company is asked to evaluate products and services from various providers for one reason or another. We have run a live test of Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), for example, and are currently running a beta test of their Office 365. We ran an extensive field test of a conferencing service with an eye toward an affiliate relationship, and so on…
Not long ago, then, we were asked to participate in–and subsequently blog about–another pilot test of hosted Microsoft Products, this time by way of certified partner provider Apptix. Other companies are being partnered with other providers, so this is a test of the partner providers as much as it is of the Microsoft Online services. Read the rest of this entry »
2011 is a prime number
Posted: December 29, 2010 Filed under: community, general, social responsibility Leave a comment »As usual, a recent message from Chris Brogan got me thinking, this time by way of his Human Business Works newsletter. The topic, appropriately enough, was on preparing for 2011.
Many people make resolutions (“I’ll go to the gym, lose weight, eat less, swear less, spend less, etc.”) that pretty much fly out the window by mid-February at the latest (just ask your favorite trainer how long his or her clients actually stick with the plan). Along with Lent, it generally involves some sort of martyrdom-like sacrifice which always looks and feels daunting if not outright impossible… so we’re pretty much setting ourselves up for failure. Like Lent, however, you can choose to give something instead of giving up something. It feels better, so it works better. Read the rest of this entry »
the power of grateful
Posted: November 26, 2010 Filed under: community, general | Tags: community, family, friends, Thanksgiving Leave a comment »In the Americas, especially the US and Canada, today is Thanksgiving: the day to look back at the hardships we have endured and to count the blessings we enjoy, especially having gotten through those hardships.
The food is part of it, the family gatherings, the football (I remember the men all gathering around to watch the Army-Navy game when I was a child–big Navy family), and if we remember to do it, we look around at one another and realize how lucky we really are.
Yes, even in the midst of the aforementioned hardships, we’re still lucky. Blessed, if you will.
And now, in these uncertain years, we would do well to remember it. While yet we breathe, we still have phenomenal opportunity to get it right, or make it right, whatever “it” happens to be: the chance to forgive a loved one, even if you can’t do it to his or her face; the chance to change a bad habit or change your heart or recognize hurt or love and do something about it.
This past year, I spent most of my time in New York, working on a contract that turned out to be a great opportunity for learning, even while I struggled with my own demons and my own body’s reaction (not good) to living in Manhattan. As much as I love New York, as I like to say, New York doesn’t love me so much.
In the end, though, I came away with vast new knowledge, new affiliations, new experience and a much better understanding of my own abilities–and perhaps more importantly, my own limitations.
I came home.
To East Tennessee.
Yep, I can now call it home, because it is. I was greeted by friends who had missed me, warts and all; greeted by one of the most gently beautiful landscapes in the world; greeted by my humble home, of which I am now so proud, because it’s my humble home.
So this year, I’m grateful for my home, my family, all of whom I love; grateful for my friends, to whom I can now give my whole heart and not hold part of it back for greener pastures; grateful for the experiences, good and bad, that make me who I am today; grateful for surviving my difficult life and continuing to learn from it.
There’s so much more, because I’m certain as I’m sitting here that there are a zillion more blessings of which I’m not aware.
And I’m grateful because I had a truly lovely day today, and tomorrow is another day, another chance to get something right, do something good, choose something beautiful.
And always to love.
the power of a team
Posted: October 18, 2010 Filed under: clients, community, design Leave a comment »Over the last couple of weeks, we have been rather insanely busy with a new-and-improved business model for SheTech, a new-and-improved web site (still in development, so bear with us!), and a ton of related details.
It has been a great privilege to work with this crackerjack team we’ve managed to assemble–and I’m not just saying that. For some reason, some truly world-class talent have decided that this little agency is worth their time and attention. This is both invigorating and humbling.
The planning process for SheTech 2011 is fast-paced because it’s so important that we get this going sooner than later; it’s exciting; it’s exhilarating. The coolest part to me is looking around, totally trusting the team to play together really well. We kick ideas around and some great stuff comes up. Where one person lacks a skill or an idea, another more than fills the gap.
Not only are we doing this for ourselves (“eating our own dog food”) in the context of making vast improvements to SheTech and Company, our clients are already beginning to benefit from this richness of creativity as well. We’ve had planning sessions for clients, where some really amazing and innovative ideas have resulted. Man, do I feel lucky to be surrounded by such talented people!
We’re doing this for ourselves. But mostly, we’re doing this for each other.
We’re doing this for our clients.
And their clients.
And their communities.
Man, do I feel lucky.
the power of courage
Posted: October 5, 2010 Filed under: blogging Leave a comment »Early this morning, Chris Brogan published a post called “Appreciate the Wild Minds“. Near the end, he wraps up his thoughts with
Their ideas don’t fit into spreadsheets and business plans quite often, but the extrapolations are things of beauty and wildness, all at once. It’s like watching nature try to express itself in a whole new way, watching how their thoughts manifest. Sometimes nature is ugly. Sometimes it’s not efficient.
In corporate culture especially, we try so hard to fit everything into a quantifiable process–an admirable goal in many ways, as it helps us make tasks repeatable and measurable–but not everything fits into a formal process.
How do you plot creativity on a spreadsheet? How do you predict that insane thought that comes to you at 3:00 in the morning, the one that could change the world? Or the one that comes to you in the, er, “smallroom” (which is where I have arrived at some of my best solutions–I’m sure there’s a study somewhere on why that is)?
This is where we need courage, both individually and collectively. The things that worked for us in decades past, the corporate strategies (many of which have contributed to bringing the economy to its knees) and formal processes that help us standardize business and behavior, are starting to collapse under their own weight. Human creativity does not fit into a “standard”; courage is not something you can quantify. I hear and read over and over again that it’s the entrepreneurs, Chris’ “wild minds”, that will save us.
Have courage. Speak your ideas bravely; pursue your unpredictable creativity. You may have the Next Big Thing waiting for you in the smallroom.
Rebekkah Hilgraves
Theresa
andyscherer
Peter Mancini
alexasteele
