James Steele

All things dotNet running through my veins

BB'ing.. Are you guilty of it?

I find it absolutely ludicrous that some people insist on CC'ing emails to half the planet when they find errors/inconsistencies/etc.. that someone else has made. Especially when these items are very insignificant and the people that they are CC'ing have nothing to do with the problem at hand nor would they benefit from being made aware of it.

This practice is a prevalent cancer on numerous projects that I have been a part of. I must admit that on occasion my ego may have gotten in the way of my judgement and perhaps on rare occasions, I was one of "them". However, from this day forward this is a form of politicking that I refuse to be a part of. Why not just take the issue up with the person(s) that are directly implicated with the issue at hand? I understand that on rare occasions it may become necessary to notify a superior of repetitive incompetence of an individual, but there are professional ways of going about this.

This senseless form of "showboating" has resulted in me loosing respect for some close colleagues. A shame to say the least.

I wonder how many people can actually see the "true" nature of these emails. I am going to coin this form of emailing BB'ing (Bullshit Broadcasting). I must give credit to a confident for the term broadcasting in this context, but I will not mention his name. So if you are someone that participates in BB'ing, do us all a favor and give it up!

Life is not a "Big Dick" contest!

James Steele
Posted: Apr 20 2005, 08:29 AM by JamesSteele | with 18 comment(s)

Comments

Hannes Preishuber said:

i add: remove the CC and BCC from every email client!
# April 20, 2005 8:35 AM

Sahil Malik said:

Well, that is what is wrong with our industry. The constant influx of fresh college grads - barely with 2 year old pubic hair, but they think they know the workings of "dealing with people". Not saying that I'm an expert at that, but those guys are the abhorable worst. This being an example of someone out of college for about 4-6 years, and overzealous to climb to the glass ceiling. Once you've been there for 2-4 years, you come to the realization how not worth it, it was - but you need to get there first.

Of course for someone who is older, has just never reached there yet - give him time, everyone discovers the right thing to do eventually.

Meanwhile - NJOY :)
# April 20, 2005 9:06 AM

TrackBack said:

Check this link out http://weblogs.asp.net/jamessteele/archive/2005/04/20/403516.aspx
James is talking...
# April 20, 2005 9:11 AM

James said:

I like that idea Hannes.
# April 20, 2005 9:22 AM

TrackBack said:

# April 20, 2005 9:51 AM

Alain said:

Oh Sooo true bud. This happened to all of us at some point and I think that in some cases, it's the tip of the iceberg, a symptom of a more pervasive condition - Back-stabbing!. I agree with Sahil comment and the importance to "educate" the less experienced. This is what good communication skills is all about after all. Being able to overcome feelings of resentment and tell someone "Next time, don't do this, do that, because...". It might have a positive effect. On the other hand, there's a lot of back-stabbers out there and you have to socially protect yourself from them.

Good point to bring up...
# April 20, 2005 9:52 AM

IM said:

Please, stop wasting my time with irrelevant messages like this.
# April 20, 2005 10:16 AM

Dan said:

This problem worsen when a manager can't see the difference between those jack-o-big-mouth-i-knows-only-buzzwords and those who are competent and who give them a real view of the project status.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, i discoverd this :
http://www.changethis.com/14.DangerQuicksand

It's a corporate survival guide. Maybe there's something about CC in it, i haven't had time to read it all yet.

Have a nice day!
# April 20, 2005 10:50 AM

TrackBack said:

# April 20, 2005 1:11 PM

TrackBack said:

# April 20, 2005 4:26 PM

Jeremy Brayton said:

If you removed CC and BCC, guess what? People would use the TO: field. You won't stop the behavior by modifying the clients, it just isn't going to happen. The problem here is not the software, but the people using it. So the modification has to be with the people through education, not removing fields that are a part of the standard. Even if the standard was modified, the people who do this would find another way to accomplish the same goal.

I have a suggestion that would probably work. Make a slapping consequence for each "grevous" CC you do. There is a voting system where each recipient can vote on wether or not the CC was valid. If enough votes say it wasn't, those who voted (and only those) may slap you in the face once and only once.

I figure, if you're slapped about a couple hundred times you probably won't be doing that again. Until you forget and get slapped another couple hundred times. Eventually, it would sink in.
# April 20, 2005 5:11 PM

James said:

Jeremy,

Very funny stuff! Thanks for the comment.
# April 20, 2005 6:11 PM

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