The Successful Hybrid Team

1The World of Work Is Changing Faster than Ever Before

There was a Time Before Emails…

In 1965, the first emails were sent from computers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Each user's message was added to a local file called ‘MAIL BOX’. The proposed uses of the proto-email system were for communication to notify users that files had been backed up.¹

Prior to emails, workers would spend their mornings going through a pile of handwritten memos and notes from co-workers and notes from phone messages left by an assistant. They would then respond by writing down (yes, handwriting!) lengthy replies, send them via mail, and then wait approximately seven days for a response. At that time, messages were official, formally written, and left no place for mistakes. The decision-making process was therefore much longer. When emails were first introduced in 1965 and then widely adopted in the workplace in the 1970s, the business world went through the first revolution. Suddenly, teams could communicate instantly and discuss group projects at a much faster pace, and the transmission of information between co-workers reached a new era. The use of rapid one-to-many delivery increased the amount of communication colleagues had, as compared to the era immediately preceding the widespread use of email. According to Statista, roughly 306.4 billion emails were estimated to have been sent and received each day in 2020, and this figure is expected to increase to over 376.4 billion ...