Which is exactly fundamental to my point and to the article. You have an expectation which you are placing on other. When the author stopped trying to be synchronous with an asynchronous medium he found himself to be more productive and people were OK with that.

It turns out that the frustration you feel is the problem of someone not replying, it is you externalising your problems as other peoples fault. If you really need a response quickly pick up the phone, get a synchronous answer via a synchronous medium.

Exactly. :-)

> Whilst it may be asynchronous, people do have an expectation of a reply within a reasonable time frame - hours to a few days depending on the relationship.

Not at all, unless frequent contacts are expected in which case you should be warned through other channels.

> You end up wasting time waiting for a repsonse when you culd have immediately sought assistance from an alternative contact.

If you need fast turnaround, use a fast turnaround transport. That's what instant messengers or phones are for.

> It's not spam. It's polite and helpful.

I completely disagree, especially when the numbskull using out-of-office replies can't be arsed to turn it off for mailing lists. It's spammy, impolite and unhelpful.

Mailing lists are supposed to use priority=bulk.

Mail server are supposed not to reply to bulk email automatically.

They also should include a List-Id and mail servers are not supposed to reply automatically to those either.

>Not at all, unless frequent contacts are expected in which case you should be warned through other channels.

Obviously, this differs. At my actual job, email is the "need a response today" communication, while instant messaging or phone is "need a response now". Out-of-office messages are invaluable to know if someone is just out today, in which case things are fine, or they are out for two weeks, in which case I need to find their delegate.

"It is _incredibly_ infuriating when people are out for 2 weeks and don't alert you to this fact."

Email is a great "electronic mail" system but a miserable trouble ticketing system. None the less, just like "Excel" is the corporate standard database system, in practice email is the corporate standard ticketing system. Of course it doesn't work very well, but incorrect application of the tool, is not the fault of the tool.

The problem is using a binary vocabulary to describe something that should be on a spectrum. Just because I use an asynchronous medium doesn't mean that I don't expect a reply in a "reasonable" time, and "reasonableness" will depend on the situation and hopefully both parties are in some agreement.

Think of an asynchronous ajax call. It may be ok to wait 5 seconds, but not 5 days.

I find far more intrusive the phone call that could have been taken care of via email. I deal with this because a community service group I work with has a lot of elder people. They like to call. Yes, I understand it's Tuesday, and we have a meeting Friday, but I can answer you in two hours (by email). Don't interrupt me right now (by calling). But it can't wait two weeks.