“Hi, John. I’m calling about the project plan for one of the projects we’re working on. It turns out that the problem we thought we had is real. So, how about changing that step in the work plan to read something like “update work plan and obtain project champion approval?” When you get that done, send it to me for review and then I’ll send it to the next person along the chain. By the way, I like that last email you sent about the re-organization. Sounds like you’re getting noticed. Probably in a good way, too. Congratulations. On another note, there’s stuff going on with my latest project – probably the only one where you’re not involved. If you need to talk, call me and I can update you on my latest project with the rest of the department. You’ve got my number.”

The above is a real voice message (names and references changed for confidentiality reasons) that lasted about 40 seconds. I don’t know about you, but I’d say this voice message is a complete waste of time, not only for the caller, but also for the listener. There are several problems with the message, not the least of which is the length of the message.