Email can be amazingly inefficient. After all, how many times have you messaged back and forth with a co-worker over the course of a day or two just to schedule a meeting? How many times have you wasted hours with co-workers sending "Reply to All" messages to achieve consensus about something? And, how many tasks did you interrupt today alone so you could respond to a message that just arrived in your Inbox?
When you really think about it, you begin to see how much this seemingly great technology tool can actually prevent you from getting important things done. So here are a few things you can do as the "sender":
1. Make sure that email is the right medium to address the issue. Would a phone call or a meeting be more appropriate / efficient to discuss it?
2. Get to the point right away - in the first few sentences of your message.
3. If you are asking a question, be sure to ask the question. don't just state it and hope people will respond. Phrase it as a question.
4. Specify who should respond. With a group message, it's easy for everyone to assume that someone else will respond.
5. Be crystal clear when you need a response. ASAP is not a deadline. It requires an assumption about "when" you really want it.
6. Provide background and context in your message. Don't assume the recipient will know what you're talking about.
7. Since you never know where your message may ultimately end up, don't forget the rules of grammar and punctuation.
8. One message, one topic.
9. Provide a summary when you forward an "FYI" email. Don't forward a whole conversation thread and assume that the recipient will take the time to read it. They're busy, too.
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