8 Habits of Highly Ineffective Emailing

Got an email? Well, that's a silly question, isn't it? Of course you've got an email. In fact, you've got MANY emails. The Cranking Widgets Blog located at http://blog.crankingwidgets.com shares 8 Habits of Highly Ineffective Emailing. I will list just 3 here, and you can read the rest for yourself at http://blog.crankingwidgets.com/2007/04/09/8-email-habits . Saying Way More than is Necessary - This is one you won’t know the message has committed until at least a third of the way through it. If you find yourself thinking “for Pete’s sake, get to the point…” - you’ve got one of these messages. You see, many people like to treat email like a lazy Sunday afternoon conversation over mojitos - they drone on and on, giving you details and subplots that are only somewhat relevant (and decidedly unnecessary). If you’re a bit of a stickler like I am, these get round-filed with the quickness. Straying Wildly from the Topic - When the email subject reads “TPS Report Cover Sheet Format” and half-way through you’re reading about Tom’s lunch plans or the new policy on chewing gum in the break room, you know you’ve found one of these jewels. If the author of the email can’t be bothered to formulate a coherent message, a pox on them and their message. Shift+Delete (bypasses the ‘Deleted Items’ folder in most email programs - use with caution). Set the Priority to ‘High’ on Every Single Message - Ever heard of “The Boy Who Cried ‘Wolf’”? Same deal. If you think that I automatically jump to read every email with this indicator, you’re sadly mistaken. In fact, I’ll probably just roll my eyes and move on to the next email. Maybe I’m just jaded, but if an email is that important, maybe it ought to be a phone call or an in-person visit. But believe me when I say that, personally, I judge these messages very harshly and will often completely ignore them if they don’t present a situation that is actually of “high priority”.