Email Tips
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[Tech]
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[Advice]
Advice for using email that I haven’t seen mentioned elsewhere.
Tip #1:
When composing an email, I leave the recipient fields blank until the text is completely finished and proofread. That way I can’t accidentally hit “Send” before I’m ready.
When replying, if the reply is more than a simple acknowledgement, I’ll open a blank email to compose the text, and copy the final text into the reply.
If I’m being really obsessive, I’ll write the email and replies in a separate text editor. (I do this more often than not these days).
Tip #2:
I don’t ask more than one question in an email. In my experience, if I ask two or more questions I’ll only get an answer to one of them. So I focus on one topic only per email. If I have more than one question to ask, I’ll send multiple emails.
Tip #3:
I always assume that if I mention someone by name in the body of an email, that person will eventually see the email. It’s often unintentional; the email gets forwarded around, and at some point the person mentioned gets added to the recipient list. If what I said is complimentary, that may be fine, except that even compliments can be misunderstood.
So my rule is to never name anyone other than the recipient in an email. It isn’t necessary to say “I heard from Ted Smith that...”. Better to just say “I heard that...”.
There can be exceptions to this rule, but be careful. Just be aware that anyone you name will someday see your email.
Tip #4:
If an email conversation has gone through a single send-and-reply cycle without the topic being resolved, it’s probably time to use the phone or meet in person.
Other Resources:
Naz Hamid has some good advice for effective email collaboration. He breaks my rule about asking more than one question, but I won’t quibble; it’s worth a try. I’d just expect to have to send follow-ups to get all the questions answered.