Stevea Robbins here.

Welcome to the Get It Done Guy's quick and dirty tips to work less and do more.

Get It Done Guy listener, Cindy, writes it.

Do you have any advice or tips on which communication method is most appropriate for a certain recipient and the given message?

Cindy, this is an important question.

Technology was supposed to make our lives easier, and it did.

We had paper mail, and then we moved to telegraph, and then telephone, then cordless telephone.

Everything was simple and logical, though a few way too self-important people had multiple phone numbers.

Ha!

As if they were that important. And then in a mere

15 years, along came email, a dozen different instant messaging platform, Skype Vonage,

cell phones, text messaging, BBM, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada. Suddenly, there are two dozen

ways to reach each of us. This actually isn't progress.

This actually sucks.

Not the least because different communication modalities communicate different things in different

ways.

Choosing which channel to use to contact someone can be a real trick.

Use the right medium for the person.

Different people have different ways they like to be contacted.

Find out someone's favorite and use that whenever possible. Some people are writing-oriented people. Use email or

text messages for them, as they prefer that. Other people are listeners. For them, use voice and phone

mail. Some people, sadly, are talkers. They also like phone, but only the part

...