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Clean Desks

January 20, 2006

Technology... is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ~C.P. Snow, New York Times, 15 March 1971

E-mail is a wonderful tool that allows us to communicate so much more quickly than with traditional mail through the post office. It’s hard to remember what life was like before e-mail, but it did exist. For example, it’s still surprising to me that my children do not know how to use an old-fashioned typewriter—for that matter, they’ve never even seen one. Now, before I get carried away into nostalgia land, let me get back to the point. While e-mail has made our lives a tad better, it has increased our need to effectively deal with the abundant communications that swamp our daily lives. I know of so many folks who spend hours each day responding to e-mails. It’s not unusual to talk to entrepreneurs who regularly respond to over 200 e-mails a day. While communications are important, so are sleeping, eating, and interacting with actual humans— a little balance in one’s life is a good thing.

Regarding office e-mail, perhaps the most important thing you need to think about as you send messages out is, does this really need to be communicated? Every e-mail takes time to read; for example, is it really important to communicate to all of your staff how one of your employees won an award from the Boy Scouts? Sure his team needs to know this, but not the whole company.

As you write your e-mail, you should make your point(s) in a way that is short and on topic. Once e-mail gets over about three short paragraphs, you loose your reader’s attention, so aim to make your e-mail brief and succinct.

The subject line is an extremely important yet overlooked element in e-mail, and the more precise information you can give here the better. If the subject line says “Info,” I know it’s an informational message and I might put off reading it until later. However, if an e-mail subject line says ‘Important,” and it is not spam, then I know I need to pay attention to it.

When communicating sensitive material, e-mail is not a very effective medium and can be perceived as very cold. One time we were interviewing a job candidate that I had encouraged to apply. Later, I was in a hurry and let her know by e-mail that we could not use her services. That was a terrible mistake on my part because I just did not take into account the insensitivity of this message, and this lady had every right to be upset with me.

Another thing to think about is the “need to know” concept. Be careful whom you cc on a message, as most people assume the information is important, otherwise they wouldn’t be copied on it, right? Sure, you want information to flow, but it must be relevant information Too much information can be overwhelming and counterproductive. How many times have you just given up and deleted whole batches of messages you don’t have time to deal with?

One of my pet peeves is people who insist on sending out jokes and thoughts of the day. Many recipients of such spam want to tell the senders to stop, but are just too embarrassed to say so. In a business situation, this is wholly inappropriate, and you’re on firm ground telling the offenders to cease and desist.

By far, the best e-mail software that I have seen is Microsoft® Outlook because it is so robust—it’s feature-rich with an on-screen interface that’s easy to use and visually pleasing. It is well worth the money to have this program.

One of the things that can affect your ability to work efficiently is when your inbox is too full. Your inbox should be the depository for incoming mail that once looked at, can be moved to another folder. Organize your e-mail with subfolders such as Pending or Followed Up On; that way, you can remove the clutter from your inbox but still keep messages you might need to look at again later. A cluttered inbox is analogous to a cluttered desk in that it keeps you from concentrating on the real important stuff (boy, do I like that word—stuff). Also, with Outlook, you can drag the message to your calendar so it will remind you on a specific date and time to take action, with the e-mail conveniently imbedded in your calendar.

I encourage you to check your e-mail only twice a day, but then file each e-mail as to pending, needs response, delete it, forward it, and so on. Like paper, e-mail should be handled a minimum number of times: once is super.

A great book to look at is How to Organize Your Inbox & Get Rid of E-Mail Clutterby Andy Kaufman.

While e-mail is a neat tool, it’s much too easy to abuse it. But now that you know better, you too can begin communicating as effectively as possible with e-mail. You can do this!