Review: "A World Without Email" by Cal Newport

 Cal Newport's A World Without Email would have been revolutionary three years ago. Now it feels a little out of date.

To be fair, this might be a me thing. I skipped the first half because I'm already sold on the problem: checking your email every 5 minutes is clearly bad for getting any actual work done. I'm familiar with Cal's previous work (including Deep Work and So Good They Can't Ignore You) so I get it!

The second half of the book sets out some proposed solutions. This is the section I bought the book for and the section that underwhelmed me. Cal suggests things like use Calendly to schedule meetings. I agree, but it's a lot less radical than I thought he would be, given the whole book is supposed to be about eliminating email altogether! In addition, he doesn't seem aware that Microsoft Outlook (the most mainstream of email clients) has included a scheduling tool for years that lets you view your coworkers calendars and book a meeting at a time when they're free, eliminating the back-and-forth emails to schedule meetings. If lumbering bureaucracies and tech conglomerates are already using the tools Cal suggests, how cutting edge is this book really?

Similarly, he calls for offices to adopt "office hours" like academia and use Agile project management. They're good suggestions, but hardly revolutionary to someone familiar with the world of workplace productivity.

His case studies of how offices can use dedicated project management software to track projects rather than email inboxes are helpful, and potentially worth reading the book for if you're setting up a startup or managing a team. I thought this was going to be the bulk of the book, to be honest - suggestions for CEOs and senior managers to change the way their organisations are structured. Instead, it seems like it's mainly aimed at frustrated individuals, or the coworkers of frustrated individuals who want to persuade them to send less emails!

A World Without Email is a great introduction to why it's so important to think through workflows and truly focus. People familiar with name Cal Newport will be familiar enough with the concepts that they don't need to read it. But if you're new to Cal's books, check it out - it does a good job of drawing together all of his previous work into one easy read.


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