Schedule times
to receive e-mail
By selecting an
option whereby you program your email software to deliver
your e-mail every 90 minutes, or even every two hours, you
will be able to consolidate your work. Very little is truly
urgent; those urgent items are usually handled by telephone
or personal visit. Better yet, turn the delivery option off
completely, and YOU decide when to retrieve email - and not
more than 5 times daily!
View e-mail as
a tool for keeping touch, rather than an urgent
communication tool
E-mail should not
be an urgent communication tool. It is excellent at helping
people stay informed. Anything you need in less than 3 hours
should be done by phone or in person. When you use email
urgently, you destroy others' abilities to triage their work
because they feel complelled to watch for your messages.
Make an agreement with your work group to NEVER send an
urgent email without a phone call first.
Manage your
e-mail with rules
Many e-mail
programs have rules that you can apply to receive e-mail. In
other words, you can set up a rule to place an item
automatically into one of your e-mail folders, without its
going into or through your inbox. This is a great option for
electronic newsletters.
Use preview
pane
You can set up
most e-mail programs to be able to review in "preview pane"
view. This allows you to see the content of the e-mail
without having to double-click on the e-mail to open it.
Every second helps!
Put the main
point or request in the first 2 sentences of the email
This practice
helps your readers clearly know the point of the email. Too
many people "bury" the main point further down in the email.
This is an excellent business letter writing practice,
whether it is email or paper mail. It also forces you to be
clear about exactly what you're asking, too.
Only one
subject per e-mail
We have all
received the e-mails that address multiple subjects in the
same e-mail, sometimes impacting different audiences. It is
better to write two separate e-mails on the different
subjects when the audiences are not exactly the same, rather
than to combine them into one.
Make the
Subject line specific.
By putting
detailed information in the subject line, you will enable
others to properly sort their work. Many of us have a
tendency to use a general subject, such as "Tuesday
Meeting." Instead, your subject will be more effective if it
states "Please bring the attached handout to the Tuesday
meeting."
