Develop this

Last Thursday evening I emailed two files to colleagues who were to meet yesterday to discuss them. One was a document, the other a spreadsheet. I sent them that early because I wanted to give them time to read through everything before the meeting, without making them do so at the weekend.

In my email I asked the recipients not to return edits or comments to the document until after the discussion, so that we’d all be talking from a single source of truth. After the meeting, I said, I would welcome any inputs.

So what did one of the recipients do? Yes, indeed. Friday afternoon he hit Reply-All and attached the document, with his edits and comments. In his email, he included a smiley-face.

(This is someone who has called me—in person and in email—by a name that is not mine, multiple times. I finally had to point out his error.)

Apparently the requirements for a Ph.D. in developmental psychology at George Mason University do not include reading emails or following instructions.