Because I can (and possibly because I am an engineer and like to play with numbers), I did a quick calculation to work out how full Frank’s inbox would get after the scenario above played its course.
After the fifth iteration (starting when Frank’s initial colleague on forwards the email), Frank has 32 emails in his inbox, and we’ve involved 63 of our (now very close) work colleagues in this discussion.
If the iterations continue overnight to our final cartoon cell,
- After 10 iterations, Frank has 512 emails
- After 15, he has has 8,192 emails
- After 20, he has a whopping 524,288 emails
Makes you think twice about hitting ‘Reply all’, eh?
Next time, pick up the phone instead.
