 Christopher Butler Strategy and Resourcing Hi, I'm Chris. I've been working at Newfangled since September, 2004. | Chris Butler's Blog |
 | Subscribe to this blog Click this link to view blog as XML. View a list of all Newfangled blogs >> Subscribe to all Newfangled blogs >> |  | Search Chris' blog |
5 Simple Ways to Send Better Emails
May 1, 2008 at 12:00 pm by Chris| When I first picked up Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home, by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe, I thought it would be a pretty light book telling me lots of obvious stuff I already knew. After all, I send emails all day every day, and have been for a long time. However, I was easily proven wrong. While SEND is a quick and relatively light read, it contains lots of helpful information which I have already put in to practice. Here are five of the main ideas that I'll be sure to keep in mind for my emails from now on: 1. Seniority and "to:" Order This may not be an issue for you or the people you work with. In fact, before reading this in SEND, I never even considered it. However, my feeling is that when it comes to email etiquette, you're better off being safe than sorry. Essentially, Shipley and Schwalbe's point is that when assembling your "To" list of multiple recipients, put the names in order of seniority, if that applies. This is one of those tiny details that you may overlook, but someone else may not. 2. Good Subject Lines This is a pretty simple point to get, especially if you do much with email on hand-held devices (like your Blackberry). Keep your subject simple and on point. If the content of your email has nothing to do with the original subject line of the email string you're still in, go ahead and change it. However, if you use Gmail, keep in mind that the subject line is what Google uses to string emails together in a "conversation," so you may have other reasons to maintain a particular subject. Because we send so many emails, both internally and to our clients, I like to use an "internal" tag when sending emails to Newfangled people that are not related to particular projects. This way, a busy Project Manager can quickly identify my email and prioritize it among the many others from our clients. One of these subject lines might look like this, "Internal: Project Manager Meeting Rescheduled." Likewise, I might tag an email related to a particular project like this, "client.com: Go Live Schedule." 3. To Cc or Not to Cc The Cc field can be a shield, or it can be a sword, so use it with care. Because Cc stands for "carbon copy," the intent was to use this field to include a recipient who may not need to follow up directly on the email's questions or requests, but needs to be kept informed of the information. Using the Cc field can send strong messages, too. If an email conversation with a client gets tense, but you know that you are following the proper protocol, you might Cc your superior on your response. This "shield" approach will communicate to your recipient that you're done playing games and are confident that your superior will back you up if needed. If you do this, be sure you're in the right. On the other hand, if your email is accusatory or corrective toward your recipient and you Cc someone else, you clearly have your "sword" drawn. Be sure you're ready for battle. Lastly, I think it's polite to inform your recipient that you are Cc'ing someone else, and why. If the Cc'ed address is foreign to your recipient, they could immediately be on the defensive even if the don't need to be. In my example below, notice that if I didn't let "Ralph" know why I was Cc'ing Mark, he might get defensive and assume it was a passive aggressive way of complaining about the schedule being off. To: Ralph 4. "There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know." Donald Rumsfeld was given a hard time for this quote, but he's actually right. In fact, one of Eric's favorite quotes ("The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." ) points out that we often assume we know things that we don't, or that others know things that they don't. It's good to know that there are things you don't know- thanks, Rummy! This problem runs rampant in email, so never assume that the recipient of your message will know what you're talking about. Unfortunately, writing a huge email with lots of back-story won't necessarily do the trick either. Because people tend to get so much email now, thorough reading of long emails is not a guarantee. This means that your job is even tougher. You'll need to make sure that your email as comprehensive as needed but also as succinct as possible. Simple tricks like making sure that major points, instructions, or questions have their own line will make it easier for your recipients to pay attention and follow up. Also, if you are sending the email to multiple recipients, try highlighting particular information for them. Below is an example. Notice how I didn't just launch in to my questions without providing some context (the new employees). To: Eric, Mark, Mitch, Katie, Jason 5. Oh no you didn't! Not in My Inbox! Do you ever get emails forwarded to you that include days, weeks or even months of communication that the sender expects you to sort out in order to respond appropriately? Shipley and Schwalbe correctly point out that when this happens, the sender is essentially taking work from their desk and putting it on yours. Don't let senders make you do a ton of work they should have done before emailing you! An appropriate response to an email like this might be as follows in the example below. Notice how I politely bounced that work right back. To: Eddie |
Tags: project-management email business books
 |  |  |  |  |  |
Quick Book Review: Send
April 23, 2008 at 12:00 pm by Chris
I've just finished reading a small book called Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home, by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe. I'll probably write a larger post in the next several days about email in general in reflection on the book, but I wanted to just quickly post a recommendation. This book is a quick, but worthwhile, read. Send contains plenty of interesting NYTimes-column-esque factoids that contextualize email in the larger history of business and personal correspondence, as well as provides some advice as to how to do a better job using email. I began reading Send with the idea that I had "mastered" email. After all, it's what I spend the majority of my day doing. However, I quickly realized that there were many ways that I could improve. One of the large themes in the book is that senders often take for granted what information their email recipients will know. Consequently, the email itself ends up being quite inadequate and unhelpful to both sender and recipient. The authors recommend over an over again taking the extra time to ensure that an email is comprehensive and clear, rather than always prioritizing speed. Other topics they discuss include the "anatomy" of an email, different types of email (asking, answering, informing, thanking, apologizing, and connecting), emotional email, etc. Here's a review of Send from the New York Times. The authors have even set up a website for the book that includes a blog and some email horror stories. |
Tags: email business books
| | | | | |
Separation of Work and Home
February 11, 2008 at 4:00 pm by Chris
In a previous post, A Permanent Work in Progress, I mentioned in passing the notion of the line between work and home becoming more blurred:"However, this potential 'omniweb' may not be such a great thing for those of us who like having some boundaries between our work and time off. I can't help but fear that someday 'not having access to my email' or 'not being in cellphone range' might not be valid reasons to not work while on vacation, or that no matter where I am in the world, I might be easily findable. I also wouldn't mind being able to escape from the ubiquity of technology every now and then, either, but from the looks of things this is going to only become more difficult."Recently, though, the Australian government halted plans to deploy BlackBerries to its workers after employees expressed fears that the devices might upset their current balance of work and home life. It seems that the BlackBerry has polarized at least two groups of differing opinion; the first feeling that BlackBerries would make the work day longer since they extend workstation functionality outside of the office, while the second group felt that in doing so it allowed for greater flexibility for schedules and telecommuting. Personally, I can relate to both perspectives. Having a BlackBerry allows for work-related travel while still keeping up with the 150-200 emails I might receive from co-workers and clients a day. This is great since there is nothing worse than returning after traveling for work to a bottomless inbox. However, it's also tempting to want to respond to email after hours, too. Every time my BlackBerry starts blinking after hours, I have to resist the inclination to open it up and deal with whatever messages are there, rather then let them pile up for the morning. I think the key is just being able to turn the thing off, though the cut off point is really up to your individual discretion, and the requirements of your job. Do you feel that having a BlackBerry (or comparable device) has eroded your boundaries? Update: 01/09/2008: Rae at BBGeeks posted an editorial after I "tweeted" a question: "Does your BlackBerry rule your life" and linked to this post. Her editorial here. 02/27/2008: Paul Kedrosky writes "I couldn't help but notice some bearded guy to Ben's (Bernanke) right who was a certifiable Crackberry addict. He was typing up a storm in his lap, showing incoming emails to other people, and generally out of control with email, and ignoring Big Ben." |
Tags: software project-management business
| | | | | |
RSS