Wired has a typically geeky How-to wiki; a recent one on how to write a perfect email
rocked my small part of the world. I can't count how many emails I delete or nearly delete that don't have a subject line, or have one that sounds like yet another Nigerian inheritance scam.
Now that I've gotten with the Getting Things Done program and don't use my inbox as a filing cabinet, I've become a lot more irritable about emails that take time.
Among the tips:
- Give me context. If you're asking a question, anticipate any missing details that could cause me to ask for clarification (and move your response to the bottom of my email queue).
- Keep it short. We're both busy people, so don't spend your time blathering on... get to the point. That gives us both more time to do stuff we love to do.
- Make requests clear. "If you sent an email, you have a point. Get to it."
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