The 24 hour email rule

27 01 2010

email

Listening to a NZ Angles podcast of an interview with the soon-to-be in NZ and prominent US angel investor, Bill Payne, I was reminded of small rule I too like to abide by. It was concerning  email etiquette, particularly ones response times to emails.

Through my various engagements and activities while at University I have found this etiquette to be quite regularly ignored by the vast majority of people. This results in an unwanted and unneeded source of frustration for those in the ‘From:’ box.

Bill has an open invitation to anyone who would like to email him and he’ll be sure to get back to you within 24hours [ I'm going to test him :) ]. This is excellent practice. With smartphones now abundant, especially in the corporate scene, ‘I haven’t been at my computer all day’, is simply no longer an excuse. If someone of Bill’s character/popularity can manage it, I’m sure most of us can. It doesn’t need to be the longest email reply – if you can’t give a full reply right now, let them know.

Therefore….. if you have an email address then you should be obliged to use it properly. It is simply good practice no matter what industry.

Try it! Something as simple as this will result in more fruitful relationships with your friends, colleagues, customers, suppliers, students, business acquaintances etc.

Better still, if you happen to have their phone number…. CALL! This is something we appear to have forgotten how to do since emailing was rapidly adopted. Better still if your recipient is just a few offices down the hallway – go talk to them ! And stop being anti-social. People can ignore emails or they can get lost mysteriously. It’s also easier for someone to say ‘no’ in an email. Phone calls put people on their toes resulting in an answer then and there. The personal touch is also a valued benefit :)

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Graeme @ graemefielder.com





Frustration with technology

22 01 2010

While doing a bit of shopping in the weekend I came across these new touch screen LCDs in the Westfield shopping malls. They are apparently running a mall directory/ map app. A cool improvement on the static maps. Except it only tells you where the food court area, restrooms, disability access and carparks are. No information about which shop is where! Lets hope this is only a beta version.

 

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Unlimited Articles

22 01 2010

I have been recently commenting on a couple of online Unlimited articles.

Every now and then you come across an article that articulates exactly what you are thinking. This is one of these. ‘ A Prescription for a Prosperous New Year’. My comment in bold.

 http://unlimited.co.nz/unlimited.nsf/opinion/a-prescription-for-a-prosperous-new-year

connecting the dots
Great read Tony. I am particularly fond supporter of showing how innovation , productivity , prosperity relate to one another (as you have in this article) and how this translates into actionable objectives or (if it goes wrong) consequences for society (businesses and the public). We are great at talking about the buzz words but not explaining them so that everyone actually gets them – the latter is essential for moving policies/targets into epidemic action.

 

The second one ‘ Bringing Silicon Valley to the Manawatu’.

http://unlimited.co.nz/unlimited.nsf/startup/bringing-silicon-valley-to-the-manawatu

More Tracys
We need more Tracys. Entrepreneurs that can link up with university technology and run with it. Licensing will remain the most viable ( best compromise between risk and payout) option for tech transfer offices until they have more human resources to lead spinouts.

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Graeme @ graemefielder.com





BioBizBits

20 01 2010

Time  for a few biobusiness related tidbits:

  1. ASA404/ DMXAA progressing. The deal worth $1bill is approaching NZ!
  2. Biovittoria IPO doesn’t cut it. Unfortunate. Not only a cool product but a great example of social entrepreneurship.
  3. MTANZ and NZBIO conferences are just around the corner.
  4. FRST post doctoral fellows announced – Well done Kate! ( an UoA Alumnus, fellow Stanford SIE participant and friend).
  5. Colorado bioscience industry report. I am a big fan of the bioscience scene, start-up/ entrepreneurial (check out TechStars) seen in Colorado.
  6. Genzyme on the brink.
  7. Genentech’s RA drug, ACTEMRA is approved by the FDA.
  8. Great post about good lab practice. I need to do more of this.
  9. Is the venture capital model broken? Cool comparison between Boston and the Valley.
  10. LCT full steam ahead with EU patent granted for NTCELL.

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Graeme @ graemefielder.com





Start-up ecosystems & my two cents

20 01 2010

Just added my two cents on the recent post by ‘the scientist NZ’ on sciblogs

Hey Aaron
I too believe we are on the right track. We have a lot of the pieces in place and we currently in the process of tweaking, streamlining and bring about cohesiveness between them. With the multiple reports, taskforces and strategies being published in the last year or so it is obvious that we know what these ‘tweaks’ need to be. It is ultimately ‘time’ that is needed. Time for experience to develop, time for more international successes to occur, time for greater pools of capital to develop and time for the underlying culture that fuel these entrepreneurial/ innovation ecosystems to be more widely adopted. ‘Time’ doesn’t suggest that we should just wait around though. It is time with action. How am I contributing to this system development ? is ultimately a question those of us involved in it should be asking of ourselves on a regular basis. NZ will never be a silicon valley but neither will Boston, Singapore or Colorado. We will be our own kiwi system. All in all I see us in the latter third of this ‘first decade’ still and am looking forward to a productive twenty ten.

Cheers
Graeme

 

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Graeme @ graemefielder.com