Make email work for you (and not the other way round)

12/09/08 15:40 Filed in: Productivity | Tools
Email is a useful, but limited, form of communication. Being a good steward of the resources God has given you includes making email work for you—and not the other way round.
 
Question: How can you make email work for you?
 
Answer: Here’s are 4 things that can help you make email work for you:
  1. Schedule: Don’t check your email as it comes in. Instead, do your email a specified times during the day. For example, do email 15 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes before lunch, and 15 minutes at the end of the day.
  2. Response time: Don’t assume that you must respond to all email immediately or even within 60 minutes. Instead, set a deadline to respond to email, say within 48 hours. This will free you up and allow you to focus on important, non-urgent matters.
  3. Subject line: Don’t just write a topic. Instead, write a summary—write the thesis of the email. This helps your reader grasp your message.
  4. Format: Don’t assume using a readable font is sufficient. Instead, use bold and bullets to help your reader understand your message.
Personal note: I’ve learned about email the hard way. Here are 3 of the lessons I’ve learned:
  1. The more email you send, the more email you get. So, if you want less email, send less email.
  2. When dealing with relational issues, talk to the person face-to-face or by phone. Use email as a last resort.
  3. Just because you have a concern or suggestion doesn’t mean you should share via email. Your recipients, like your colleagues at work, already have a lot to think about. Try emailing as few concerns or suggestions to a given person as possible—try 1 email per person per week. Better yet, go talk. If talking is too much of a hassle, don’t email—if it’s not worth your effort to talk, it’s not work his/her effort to read your email.
Make email work for you (and not the other way round). Work smart. Today.