10 Rules for Smarter, More Effective E-mail
In the same way that the Army travels on its stomach, your business probably moves on e-mail. But careless, unconstrained e-mail practices lead to e-mail overload. We've written about ways to take control of e-mail in the past, but still people drown in mail.
Recently, TED's Chris Anderson proposed an e-mail charter that lays out, in 10 simple blurbs, a powerful set of guidelines for fixing the out of control e-mail culture many businesses operate in.
Many of these are common sense and some you might already be doing. The power in the E-mail Charter, though, is not to simply internalize these rules for yourself. Print it, post it, share it. Get buy in from your entire organization. Evangelize these rules and get everyone to practice them. If you disagree with some of the rules or think you have better ones, that's okay; we recommend that you write your own and share them instead. Either way, an e-mail charter like this could save us all from e-mail overload.
1. Respect the recipient's time. The onus is on you to write a succinct e-mail that can be read and acted on in minimal time.
2. Short or slow is not rude. Cut everyone some slack and don't sweat replies that are slow or short enough that they seem a bit brusque.
3. Clarity. Make sure the subject line is clear and direct and structure a short, direct message.
4. Don't quite open-ended questions. Be clear about what you are looking for -- don't end a mail with the single word, "thoughts?"
5. Minimize cc's. Keep the addressees limited to people who really need to see the message.
6. Tighten the thread. If the e-mail is going to turn into digital tennis and go on for more than a few replies, pick up the phone instead.
7. Be smart about attachments. Don't use graphic files as signatures that end up appearing as attachments. It wastes time opening them to see what they are.
8. Give gifts. Use abbreviations like EOM (end of message) and NNTR (no need to reply) in the subject line.
9. Cut unneeded responses. You don't have to reply to messages with the single word "thanks."
10. Disconnect. Send less e-mail!
What do you think of this charter? Are there any important rules missing? Sound off in the comments. [via Lifehacker]
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