Friday, February 18, 2011

Updating the Address Book

It was so easy to keep track of classmates while in business school. We all had Darden email addresses that followed the same naming convention. Not to mention, many of us lived a stones throw from Darden grounds. Today, it never ceases to amaze me where people ended up.

I sat down after business school and tried to compile people's information on Facebook and LinkedIn into my gmail address book. Trying to formulate one source of the truth - post Darden email, phone, birthday, and location. What I've often found is not everyone updates these sources as religiously as I do. Even in business school, my classmates' locations would often differ from Charlottesville.

About two weeks ago, it was finally time to update my address to the world! Chicago - my new home! (At least until the next promotion or something like that.) I spammed my entire address book. Surprisingly, this was brilliant as I immediately knew which emails simply no longer work. (Also, if you decide to do this, BCC is your very best friend!). It's amazing the number of responses I received. However, it's also annoying given that many included little notes to which I feel the need to respond. Plus, I've also realized that once I receive a response, I then have to update the address book. That takes time! I think I have just shy of 100 left to update! Welcome to my Friday. :)

Next up, I'm hoping to use some of these newly found addresses to drop handwritten notes. We'll see how that goes.

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