Kill the spam, keep the fuzzies.

May 29, 2013 10:37 AM

Help me handle a growing intra-office "spam" problem without killing the camaraderie or antagonizing the team.

So this morning, it took me less than an hour at the office to accumulate 14 emails that are essentially a running joke about pizza in various stages of repartee, with pictures of Borat, dancing African children and a Japanese girl biting into a cat (unfortunately, only a partial list). It hasn't always been like this and it's beginning to affect my productivity and stress levels.

The background: it had initially started with a couple new contractors but everyone's been infected by now. The problem is not limited to email, we also have several daily conversations around US politics, international affairs, nutrition, exercise, technology, parenting, and so on. Oh, and we just got group chat which immediately became a new outlet for more witty one-liners and pics of cats, old people in humorous predicaments and obscure sci-fi characters.

Demographics: we are a team of about 10 engineers and programmers (great guys, other than this one issue), most over 30, some full time and some contractors; I am the only woman on the team, in a tech lead position. My manager is aware of the problem but to a lesser extent because the conversations don't happen nearly as much when he is around.

I would like to either nudge things in the right direction myself, or come to my manager with a solution rather than a complaint. (To be clear, I am the farthest thing from the office Grinch - I am not trying to kill all non-work related banter, just dial it down from 12 to a more reasonable 3). Normally, I tend to handle things in the most direct way possible but in this situation, I don't think asking people to stop spamming is the right approach.

posted by rada to Work & Money (18 answers total)

I usually reply to such emails with "unsubscribe".
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:39 AM on May 29, 2013 [3 favorites]

Best answer: You need a separate chatter list for nothing but work-unrelated chat and reminders to take it there.
posted by bensherman at 10:40 AM on May 29, 2013 [10 favorites]

I think you need to ask yourself what the actual problem is here?

Are the emails annoying? (better filtering might help -- mabye a request to label such emails with a [silly] tag in the subject line)

Is this affecting productivity? (if you can prove it with metrics, then I'd have a team meeting and do just that)

Is it offensive? Given the demographics, I wouldn't be surprised at all if some of the jokes ended up being off-putting (I'd address specific problematic messages with the senders, in private)

I don't think it's unreasonable to dictate that things like group chat, which aren't easily filtered, should be reserved for primary work-related discussions.
posted by sparklemotion at 10:46 AM on May 29, 2013 [3 favorites]

Best answer: The solution is to have a "social" or "chatter" email list set up, to which people who don't want that sort of stuff in their Inbox can just unsubscribe. Once it's created, it's pretty easy to nudge people into using the list rather than "replying all" with jokey stuff.

But without something like that, you're definitely going to come off as the office Grinch. What you see as a "12" may well be someone else's restrained "3", and it's unlikely that you'll convince them otherwise. But if you set up mailing lists correctly, you don't need to.

If your office has multiple sites, it's also worth setting up mailing lists for each physical location ... this cuts down on "Free bananas in the kitchen!" issues.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:54 AM on May 29, 2013 [4 favorites]

Best answer: I don't know about IRL chats, but we did what bensherman suggests where I work and it functions really well. Keeps the noise contained and allows you to filter it out (permanently or to read later). We use Google Apps.

If there's a need (though probably more applicable to larger companies) you can create interest-specific lists — runners@; parents@; cats@; basketweaving@.

ETA: I believe this type of decision should come from management. If I were you I'd reach out to HR or Operations. Solves the issue of you being perceived as the no-fun one.
posted by Opal at 10:54 AM on May 29, 2013

See if there is a company policy that forbids chain emails. If so, cite the policy and ask to be left off.

I am inclined to be warm, friendly, etc. It can egg on stuff like that without me intending it. So be the opposite. Do not give people the warm fuzzy attention they want. Don't be ugly. Just try to be neutral and professional in a "please, count me out" fashion. You want to dial down the emotional part when replying. An emotional buzz is what drives this type thing. Let folks know "I would love to chat, but I have work to do." Maybe soften it by suggesting something like "I must not be as talented as you. I can't keep up with this stuff and my job too. Thanks for understanding."
posted by Michele in California at 10:54 AM on May 29, 2013

It's email. Can you not ignore it? Are the subject lines things like "URGENT REQUEST"? I would probably opt not to engage with this stuff at all.

I used to have a thing where, at the height of viral video cat meme stuff, when I worked for a hip and film/video oriented company where people's heads were easily turned by this stuff, I just decided that I don't watch videos at work. And if someone emailed me a viral video and then asked me about it, I would say, "Sorry, I don't watch videos at work. But I'll totally check it out tonight!"
posted by Sara C. at 10:54 AM on May 29, 2013

We have separate IRC rooms for each team, one office-wide room, and one room for chat/lulz. Anyone not into lulz just doesn't sign into that room. Seems to work pretty well letting people focus when they need focus, but still blow off steam when they need that too.
posted by the jam at 10:54 AM on May 29, 2013

Best answer: Oh man, I have been there.

A dedicated "lulz" chat channel is a great idea. And when people insisted on debating politics out loud when I was trying to work, I eventually just started saying "GO ON SKYPE" in a loud and not-that-polite tone.

IM chatter is especially bad b/c it will start bouncing and demanding your attention. When people have insisted on polluting work channels with garbage, I will eventually post a message saying, "contact me privately if you need me," then leave the channel.
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:57 AM on May 29, 2013

For any non-work related email, I always use the subject line "TPS Reports". I also get them sent to a separate folder in Outlook, so I only read them when I have a free space.

I don't think it's about cutting the fun down. It's just about making it less intrusive.

I also avoid group chat. They can message me directly if necessary. It's a terrible tool for an entire team for an entire day. Everyone gets their downtime at different times.
posted by politikitty at 11:00 AM on May 29, 2013

Yeah, the culture for that group is that witty banter, cat pictures, etc.

If the conversation gets loud or distracting, I'd just stand up and ask, "Can you take this elsewhere please?"

I like the idea of a Lulz group chat, one that you don't have to participate in.

As for the spam, since you're the one impacted, just ask to be removed from the list. "Guys, I'm low on message space and as amusing as I find these, I'd rather not get them."

As long as you're not speaking for the group, but just trying to get a handle on your part of the world, I don't think anyone will say anything.

If you go to the boss and suggest that the frat house needs fumigated though...that's not going to go over as well.

So let them have their fun, and you can have them update you at lunch.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:10 AM on May 29, 2013

Use your filters. Feel free to MeMail me for specifics based on the email system you use.

(Which is to say, you're not going to be able to clamp down on them goofing off without coming off as a killjoy, unless you're their actual boss.)
posted by Etrigan at 11:18 AM on May 29, 2013 [1 favorite]

Nthing a separate email list for non-work chatter. That way you can both corral it and set up rules for it. (Or your boss/HR can, since it's not really your problem.) That way you can easily be a part of it but ignore it painlessly when you don't have time for it.
posted by restless_nomad at 11:28 AM on May 29, 2013

Most workplaces have some downtime between crunchtime periods. Do you want that downtime filled with worthless busywork, or team-building socializing? As long as everyone can still pull together, buckle down, and get shit done during crunchtime, I don't see how this is a problem. In fact, in my experience, the camaraderie built up during downtime is what motivates and sustains people during crunchtime.
posted by Jacqueline at 11:52 AM on May 29, 2013 [3 favorites]

We use Yammer for this.
posted by ellieBOA at 2:22 PM on May 29, 2013

Best answer: Get a corporate IM in place. Can't recommend that highly enough as a solution to this as an issue.

I'm a big fan of Hipchat as a Corporate IM solution.

I've got team members who like to talk or engage in email chains, and whose productivity it doesn't affect, others who just want to be left alone, and others who - like you - want to be able to tune in sometimes, but not be overwhelmed.

We put Hipchat into place and created a "general chat" room and then separate rooms for work-focused stuff (people can also DM each other).

I then drew up some very basic guidelines and examples of what was appropriate where, and got input from the team on them and tweaked them so that everyone felt a certain amount of ownership, and since then things have generally been good.

Hipchat, for us, strikes the right balance between feeling "corporate" and feeling "IM-y." People feel comfortable enough to still banter with each other (and is probably the only IM client where I've found myself actively using its smileys), but is different enough from the things people use at home (Skype, GTalk) for them not to forget that they ARE actually at work.

Very occasionally I have to gently nudge a few people who are perhaps spending a bit too much time trying to find that perfect cat video to share in general chat, but its relatively rare. It's also nice and easy for people to mark themselves as "Do Not Disturb" and then not have to worry about pop-up notifications, even if they've still got the room open in the background. DnD status is also nice and obvious, so if someone really needs to get hold of someone else and they're DnD then they know they need to drop them an email or get up and go speak to them.

HR were happy because its logging meant we weren't causing any potential HR issues as well.

Getting Hipchat in place, and more importantly perhaps the right guidelines and that little bit of ownership from everyone, has definitely led to a much better balanced work place environment. I've noticed that in the last year or so I've had to deal with far less little day-to-day management niggles from staff of the "x just sits there all day emailing photos" or "I can't work because Y and Z are constantly talking about football" variety. And productivity has not dropped at all (if anything its gone up).

So yeah... Corporate IM. Hipchat's not big bucks, and there are others out there as well.
posted by garius at 3:55 PM on May 29, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Oh, and just to add, an accidental benefit turned out to be that it integrated with our bug/support tracking tech (we use Tender).

When a new request is logged, Tender "posts" into the general chat room itself with the subject line and a link.

Its a nice non-subtle, but importantly non-human, reminder to people (sometimes including myself) that there is work to be done, and has actually boosted our discussion of issues, which is no bad thing (developers chipping in with advice to the support guys when they spot a request related to a particular element of code they originally wrote).

Not useful for every team I suspect, but for a relatively small dev and support team its turned out to be a useful feature.
posted by garius at 4:45 PM on May 29, 2013

My company uses Flowdock for group chat and I think it will fit the bill. You can set up different 'flows' for different groups or subject matters. It's meant for work-related chat and questions to everyone; depends on the group but my lively colleagues are pretty good about limiting the number of off-topic chats. You don't need to pay attention if you don't want to, unless someone pings for your attention. I highly recommend it for a group your size.
posted by paradeofblimps at 5:04 PM on May 29, 2013