Home > SSW Standards > SSW Rules > Rules To Better Email
Your website has an answer for everything! Thanks for the tips.
Sophie Vassarotti - Oxon Data Systems
Often their emails are rambling and unorganized, forcing the reader to wade through
blocks of totally useless text. When it comes to written communication, less is more.
Having hundreds of emails in your Inbox is not uncommon. But it's very uncommon
to find people who successfully manage their Inbox. Instead they let their Inbox
become a great black hole with no business value. Email has a bad name in business
primarily because people don't treat email correctly. Email can be a vital tool
to your company and your software development project, but it has to be managed.
Email will be an accurate record of requests, conversations, and decisions. Emails
are legal documents and will be treated with the same care as any other correspondence
with clients or employees. Email is also in an extremely effective task tracking
tool, and requests made by email will be treated with the same seriousness as
Project Plans and other directives, for email can be seen as the protocol between the sender and receiver. Here are a series
of email rules / etiquette that govern
how we use our Inbox.
Do you agree with them all? Are we missing some? Email us your tips, thoughts or
arguments.
Let us know what you think.
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*** Update *** Instead of manually implementing these rules, use
SSW LookOut! to automatically implement them for you. If you use Microsoft
Outlook as your email client,
download it and give it a go.
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Indicates important rule
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Do you use email for tasks only - not communication?
Email is a very powerful business tool. The main problem, however, is that for most
people it is out of control - emails build up until they are impossible to manage.
To help minimize mailbox clutter, try these tips:
- Send emails that contain clear tasks, not banter
- If the email you receive is not clear, call up the person who sent it and ask for
more information. Too many people reply to the unclear email asking for clarification,
which wastes time and does not guarantee a response.
Using your mailbox as a task list also saves you from having to use inefficient
paper-based cards for your extreme programming work! - That will make Dr. Neil cranky
:)
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- Figure: A bad email is one that gives no clear action items
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- Figure: A good email has a clear next step action point
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Is your inbox a task list only?
Most people have no idea of how to manage their inbox effectively. Emails will
be treated as a list to do. As you complete a task you can just delete the email.
Your inbox will only contain 'tasks', that is actionable items that are on your
list of things to do. Everything that is in your 'Inbox' (including sub folders)
will only be to-do items. So do it now, delete all emails you have done, or move
them out of the folder if you want to keep them for reference.
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- Figure: Everything in your Inbox (and subfolders) is still "to-do"
In fact you could go so far as to say you willn't do anything unless you have
an email telling you to do that task. (Which is why we send
ourselves emails.)
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Do you reply DONE and delete the email?
If someone asks you to perform a task by email, don't
reply 'OK, I will do that' or fail to reply at all. Instead, do the task and reply
'DONE' when the task has been completed and delete the email. This way the person
requesting the task knows that it has been done, and doesn't waste time following
you up. If you don't agree with the work requested, reply "no" and give
a reason. In any reply include relevant information, such as the URL and the code or text
that has been updated, which allows the person requesting the work to check what
was done and allows for offline reading.
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Figure: Example of a Bad 'DONE' email.
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Figure: Example of a Good 'DONE' email as it has both the link and the changed text.
If there are multiple items of work in an email and you can't do them all at once,
reply DONE to each item individually, and CC yourself so you can go back and do
the remaining items.
If you get multiple requests for work relating to one project, it's still best to
reply to each email individually, rather than compile the information into one email.
This way the person requesting the work hasn't lost the
email history and can understand what the work done relates to.
There is no point keeping emails that just clutter your Inbox. You don't need to
keep the original email because after you have replied 'DONE' there is a copy in
Sent Items.
From: Jliu
Subject: RE: BUG on Product.aspx
DONE - There was a problem with the SQL. I added the following:
SELECT
ProdName = CASE WHEN Download.ProdCategoryID <> ''
THEN ProdCategory.CategoryName
ELSE Download.ProdName END,
Downloads = (SELECT Count(*) FROM ClientDiary WHERE ClientDiary.DownloadID = Download.DownloadID
AND ClientDiary.CategoryID = 'DOWN' AND ClientDiary.DateCreated > '01/01/2000'
AND ClientDiary.DateCreated < '01/01/2003')
FROM
Download
LEFT JOIN ProdCategory ON Download.ProdCategoryID=ProdCategory.CategoryID
ORDER By Downloads DESC
Figure: Reply "DONE" after you have completed the task.
Even better, follow a tip I got from my accounting days... "A sign of an efficient
person is they handle a piece of paper once". When you get an email - don't
just open it have a quick look and close it with the idea that you will go back
to it later. Read it, make a decision and do the action. Delete as many emails as
you can on the first go.
PS: Generally in a developer team environment, you will move emails to bug tracking systems like: Exchange Public Folders, TFS Work Items or JIRA.
Do you save important items in a separate folder?
There are many types of emails which you receive but will never actually reply to.
For example a client may email "Sounds great - please go ahead." These
kinds of emails will be kept as a reference for the future.
Emails that came into your mailbox will not be left in your Inbox. The aim is
to read, action (if needed) and delete. You will be trying to get your Inbox down
to 0 items.
So what's left in your 'Inbox' will only be 'To Do' items. Sure you might want
to add subfolders to group related projects etc. but these subfolders will also
contain items 'To Do'. Some people leave emails in their Inbox, for later
reference only. We believe this is not a good idea, and you will create 2 folders
outside your Inbox called 'Saved Items' and 'Saved Personal Items' for such emails.
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- Figure: Save important reference items in a separate folder
Microsoft Outlook provides you with 4 main folders: 'Draft', 'Inbox', 'Outbox' and
'Send Items'. But we believe they are missing 2 additional folders: 'Saved
Items' and 'Saved Personal Items'. You can use these two folders to keep the
your work related or personal emails that you wanted to keep.
You can create these two folders next to the Inbox and move the emails there.
Do you keep the history of an email?
Often I receive a reply to an email I sent and it has one word - "Yes." I can't
remember what I asked for and the respondent has deleted the history, so I don't
know what's going on. I can't check to see whether they have answered all my questions,
or what the URL was in the original email, and I can't CC someone else on my reply
because the email is missing half the information. So I have to go back into my
sent items, find what I asked for and copy and paste it into my reply.
Crazy. Just don't delete the history! Geezzzzeeeee, surely we arent that hard up
for disk space.
Do you send unnecessary emails?
Every email you process takes time. Sifting through unnecessary emails becomes really
frustrating. Don't clog up someone else's emails Inbox with unnecessary emails.
A good rule of thumb for whether an email is unnecessary is if your email comprises
of less than 5 words (e.g. "Thanks!" or "Well Done") it's likely
it doesn't need to be sent.
Do you know how to hurry someone up?
Sometimes the person you send your email to may not reply immediately because they're
busy or just may have forgotten about it. If you need an answer, use a RESEND
by doing the following:
- Reply to ALL
- Put (RESEND) in 1st line of the Body
- Plus any other instructions - such as "Hurry Up!"
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Figure: This is an example of a RESEND.
This reminds the other person that you are still waiting for a response.
Do you realize the importance of a good email
Subject?
Just as we will not 'judge a book by it's cover' - we will not judge an email
by its subject. But, we do! Because users get SOOOO many emails, getting your clients
and suppliers to take notice of yours among the sea of email in their Inbox can
be quite a struggle.
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- Figure: I'm definitely going to read this email
Use the email Subject to grab your recipients attention. Choosing the right subject
can give an email a sense of urgency or importance that choosing the wrong subject
won't!
The best way of doing this is to ensure that your subject includes either an ACTION
POINT (e.g. 6.30 TONIGHT! See you at The Oaks Hotel...) or a RESULT of a task you
were asked to do (e.g. Here's the 5 mins. of FEEDBACK you requested from our meeting
with Charles Merton). You'll note from this that including the date and time in
the subject gives immediacy to the email.
If there's anything to be learnt from spammers, they know how to get your attention.
Spammers use very tabloid based, or headline grabbing subjects, to try and coerce
you to open that email. But don't make your email subjects tabloid-tacky, instead
follow a good broadsheet papers' style of attention grabbing lines.
Never leave the subject blank! It's like writing a book and failing to give it a
name!
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Bad Subject Example
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Good Subject Example
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Database
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Meeting to get your software solution rolling, next Monday 2pm |
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Dinner |
Dinner Tonight, 6.30pm at The Oaks |
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?? |
BUG! SSW SQL Auditor |
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User Group |
User Group this month needs a speaker - Call Tom Howe pronto! |
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Feedback |
The user interface feedback I promised you yesterday |
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Broker Form |
CPF - Fix combo box on Broker Form |
Figure: Always use a descriptive email subject to make it easier to find later
Of course, we also use a structured approach for emails - especially when sending
them internally. I want to be able to determine which emails are the most important.
Using a meaningful subject with key words makes it easy to identify and categorize
emails without actually opening them (and is also makes it easy to find emails in
my Sent Items). When emails are really important I write IMPORTANT in the subject.
Other emails I consider important or urgent have the following in the subject field:
Other words we use are:
- TIMESHEETS
- INVOICES
- PROSPECT
- TO-DO - for tasks pending
- FYI - information you want to keep around for a while, for yourself or for others
(never for a task)
- FUTURE - ideas for the future
- IGNORE - for the rare occasion when something is requested and you really don't
want to do it yet
- Product name - Registered User Support
- Product name - Pre-Sales Support
- Project name
- Client Name
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How do you structure email subjects for SSW eXtreme Emails!
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Incident Type - Product/Client Name - Module Name - Description of Incident
Details |
Many people are not aware that you can easily change someone's email subject, you
will do this if the subject is too general for you to remember what it is about
(e.g. "re: bug") or the subject is now irrelevant. To edit the email subject, open
the email and click in the subject field to focus the cursor there. You can change
the subject by typing, and saving your changes. However you will NOT change the
subject (especially of a newsgroup item) if the email has a long thread behind it.
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Remember! |
- For external emails, it is acceptable to change the subject line if the subject
is unclear
- For internal emails, the subject line will not be changed as it will break the
threading of emails
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We have a program called SSW LookOut! for Outlook to
check for this rule.
It will warn you if you forget to include a subject in your email. |
Do you sort your emails by Received AND
Important?
OK - so now you've got your important emails identified, don't let them get lost
in the quagmire. If you use Outlook make use of its inbuilt functionality. Always
sort your emails by the Received, but add a secondary sort by "Important". This
way your important emails always stay at the top to haunt you until they are done.
Figure: Sort your emails by received and then by important to keep the most recent
and important ones on top
I think the Red Exclamation Mark is a good start, but I hate the Blue Arrow - it
keeps getting my attention.
Use sort by importance to sort the items with the blue arrow to the bottom.
Figure: Use sort by importance to sort the items with the blue arrow to the bottom.
Do you know when, and when NOT, to use email?
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Figures: a
Meta Group survey
 found that 81% of respondents preferred the phone above
email to build relationships, but 80% preferred email generally
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As all these rules indicate, email can either be a blessing or a curse. One of the
most deadly of all the potential curses of email is when people choose to use email
when it is just not the right tool for that particular task. Absolutely avoid email
in the following situations:
- When you want to discuss an issue and make a decision
- When you are dealing with a 'delicate' problem
Making a Decision
If you want to make a decision, asking for opinions via email is the best way to
ensure one isn't made. Email discussions get off topic, lose track and generally
go nowhere, with every email ending with "Yes, but what about..." or "Just my 2c".
This leads to a lot of time-wasting.
You will either pick up the phone or have a meeting to discuss the issue, make
a decision then and there, and then confirm the decision via email. The first line
in your follow up email will be "As per our conversation..." This records that
a conversation was held.
The issue becomes even more important internally, when you email someone in the
next office and ask them a question. This is a great way of creating unnecessary
emails. Instead, stand up, walk to their desk and ask them the question. Otherwise,
have a folder called "AskDavid" or similar, file all your emails that
you need to ask him about in there, and when he next comes to visit you, go through
them and get an answer.
Dealing with Delicate Situations
Similarly, never bring up a tricky topic with someone by email. It's very easy to
misunderstand or misrepresent via email. We always pick up the phone and speak to
the person first when discussing important, sensitive, complex issues, or issues
where some serious convincing is required. This is the standard we follow:
- Draft the email covering the issues we want to confirm
- Call the person covering every issue outlined in the draft
- Adjust the email according to the decisions made together, adding "As per our conversation..."
- Send the email
This way you can review issues together, and, importantly, decisions are confirmed
in writing.
Figure: Are you in the right frame of mind?
Do you know that less is more?
Often emails are rambling and unorganized, forcing the reader to wade through blocks of totally useless text. When it comes to written communication, less is more.
Be concise and to the point, listing only what is relevant. People tend to ignore reading larger emails if they are on the run and leave to a later when they are not as busy.
Do you know the right way to report bugs?
When reporting bugs, it is essential that you are as descriptive as possible, so
that the developer can reproduce the error to find out what the problem is. Read
more about this on Reporting
a Bug or Enhancement.
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Figure: This email isn't going to help the developer much - it is vague and has
no screen capture, and gives no alternate way for the developer to contact the user
regarding the issue
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Figure: Much better - this email includes the product name and version, the category
of the issue (BUG), a screen capture and contact number, and shows that the user's
system is up to date
Do you use the voting option appropriately?
Usually when an employee from the company wants to make a decision about either
a naming convention, a button style, using user-controls or forms, or even something
as simple as changing a font; there will always be reassurance from the rest of
the team that it will/will not be done.
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- Figure: using the voting buttons option.
1. The subject will start with "VOTE: ..."
2. The sender will reply with a summary after either everyone has replied or after
a certain period of time to let the group know how significant their input was.
3. The voting options will be short, to the point, and provide a distinct difference
for each option.
i.e. option1;"option1";option2;"option2" is not appropriate.
4. There will also be an extra option to allow a flexible result if a member of
the email group does not want to vote. i.e. yes; no; un-opinionated.
This will provide an accurate result of the vote and will not force anyone to select
an option just for the sake of giving a reply.
5. Voters will be allowed to add their extra comments along with their vote when
replying to all, regardless of whether or not they think it is their "two cents",
simply because the person who initially voted is looking for any and all opinions
to assure the right decision is made.
6. When making a vote, try to make the options clear enough so that voters would
not have to spend too much time deciding.
A good voting system is one that allows the voters to choose an option quickly and
carry on with their work, unless of course it is controversial.
Do you seek clarification via the telephone first?
Let's face it, we've all sent or received a cryptic email at some point. When you
do receive a list of tasks in an email and part of it you just don't understand,
don't just reply saying "I don't understand". Using email for these types of conversation
will just waste time waiting for replies and I don't believe that email will be
used for these types of ongoing discussions. Chances are if the sender of the task
couldn't give you enough detail or explain the task well enough the first time then
it's likely to be a tough task so more conversation is needed anyway. Deal with
it via a telephone conversation or meeting (MSN may also be acceptable) with the
person who sent the email.
Having had the conversation, reply to the email (remembering to CC all involved)
with:
- The subject: "CLARIFICATION - [Original subject]"
- Update the email with the new details arising from the conversation along with all
original content. (Remember to start with an "As per our conversation" line).
- Action the tasks from the email
Another benefit of this type of email is so that you can subtly let the person know
that next time they need to provide more details.
Do you prepare, then confirm conversations/decisions?
Ideally all phone conversations and meetings will be confirmed afterwards so you
have a record of the decisions and action points. Meetings and phone calls will
have adequate preparation so they are efficiently run. The reality is after the
meeting or phone call we get busy on the next call. So this is the workflow that
will happen:
- Prior to speaking to a client, speak to relevant people to help you formulate your
recommendations e.g. speak to a developer about the proposal
- Draft an email with bullet points for each issue (don't send)
- Call up the client (or have a meeting)
- Modify during conversation
- Send the email to the client (cc relevant people e.g. the developer)
Do you send yourself emails?
When a colleague or a Client asks you to do a task verbally, what method do you
have for remembering to do it? I think the best solution is to send yourself an
email CC'ing the person that asked you to do the task saying "As per our conversation..."
This way both of you know that the job needs to be done. Writing yourself a "Post-It
Note" has never worked for me.
Always add "To myself" in the email body so that other people CC'd know what is
going on. Don't write it in the email subject as it's confusing to other recipients
of the email. Put it in big font as well.
- Figure: Send yourself an email, and make it clear to everyone else
Do you CC everyone and reply to all when necessary?
When emailing external parties, it is a good idea to CC the other colleagues within
your organization that may have an interest in the email. Some of the benefits of
CC'ing others include:
- It can save time
- Gives the email more credibility if you have CC'd others in your organization
- Colleagues may correct your mistakes
In addition, I often see people replying only to the sender of the email, ignoring
the fact that there that there were other persons included in the original email.
Obviously the original sender intended to keep everyone in the loop, so it would
be polite to CC everyone included on the original communication. The converse is
true also - don't cc people unnecessarily - you're just adding to the email problem!
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- Figure: Reply All so that everyone is kept in the loop.
If the original email was to an alias with many subscribers, in general you will not
Reply All.
Also if the sender requests a 'little r'
reply, then you will not Reply All.
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Exception |
- If not all recipients need to be informed
- The opinions of the rest of the recipients do not matter as they are unlikely to
disagree
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We have a program called SSW LookOut! for Outlook to
check for this rule.
It checks this for you, and would raise a warning like this one:
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Figure: SSW Lookout checks that you have Replied All each time you send an email
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Do you use email signatures?
Email signatures are a great way of adding some advertising and branding to a medium
which isn't seen as too obtrusive. E.g. A URL in footer from your friend isn't as
taboo as junk mail from an unknown company.
Details
NOTE: Delete your footer when you send emails internally, it's unnecessary.
If you are on site at a customer, you want colleagues to be able to give you a call without asking the office what your mobile number is.
In this case, you will include your mobile and/or temp number for internal emails (e.g.Jonny Trees | On Site | 0412 xxx xxx).
Do you avoid using images in your email signatures?
As useful as email signatures are for promoting your brand, using images in your
signatures is a bad idea. To many recipients this can appear to be an attachment
to the email. This will annoy some users, so it's better to keep your signatures
as HTML or just plain text.
Do you make sure every customers' (and prospects') email
is in your company database?
Most companies keep all their customers' (and prospects') contact information in
a database (e.g. SQL Server, Access, Oracle). This allows all staff to easily locate
contact details about a particular person. So when you get an email, make sure you
check that email address it is in the company database.
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We have a program called SSW LookOut! for Outlook to
check for this rule.
Figure: Stephen Koop needs to be put into the database
Figure: SSW Lookout! Can also check the emails that you are send and tell you if
the email address is not in your database.
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Do you always keep your sent items?
You will never ever delete your sent items. This will in most cases be the only
record you have of the emails you have sent to customers and clients. If you ever
need to find some correspondence (and believe me you will) then you will be very
thankful you got into this habit!
Do you think that when replying to emails it's
better late than never?
You will always try and reply to emails within a timely period, but sometimes,
for many reasons, it can take ages for you to get around to answering that email.
I've seen people see an email 6 months old and just delete it, because it's "too
old" or they refuse to reply because "the customer will think we're a
joke taking this long to do something!" This is a great way to lose business,
no matter how long it takes to do some things, it's always better to do it than
not. Sometimes people email me an enhancement suggestion for a particular product,
but we put their requests on the back burner until other important issues are dealt
with. It might take us 12 months to implement that change, and when it's done, we'll
email the customer and send them the link to the new version. It's highly likely
that their need still exists, and they'll realise that their ideas and suggestions
are not ignored. Reply to customers regardless of how long it takes to respond.
It shows you value their feedback, and it's highly likely they'll give you some
more...
Do you minimize your Outlook Distractions?
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 - Figure: Turn off Outlook distractions!
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Getting in the zone is pretty challenging in any work environment. Outlook in particular
likes to offer as many distractions as possible to ensure you can never forget you've
got it open. Set your options so that Outlook:
- Doesn't play a sound
- Doesn't briefly change the mouse cursor
- Doesn't show an envelope
- and DOESN'T display a New Mail Desktop Alert (Outlook 2003)
Here's a few more distractions tips:
Do you follow up emails effectively?
Promises made by email are often pretty empty - the person who made the promise
either has to make a note in a paper diary, stick a post-it note to his screen,
or regularly trawl through Sent Items for all the off-hand promises made.
To ensure you follow up when you make a promise, you will do the following:
- When you receive an email from a client requesting a response, CC yourself in the
reply.
- Move the email you have just sent yourself into a subfolder of your mailbox called
'Follow Ups'.
- Add a follow up reminder to the email.
- Check your follow up folder daily, and reply to any emails that are older than a
week using the words 'Just touching base....'
- Remove the email from your follow up folder when you have resolved the issue.
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- Figure: Create a folder called "Follow Ups" to store emails that need to be followed
up
Do you know the two ways to follow up a task?
There are two ways to set yourself a task to follow up in the future.
- Delayed Email
- Write yourself an email in Outlook 2007
- Before pressing send, click Options | Delay Delivery, and then specify when you
want to be reminded
- The email will sit in your outbox until the required time, when it will be sent
to whoever you specified (you in this case)
- When you receive it in your inbox, action the task
- Reminders (follow up flags)
- Send yourself an email
- Once it arrives in your inbox, flag it for follow up and set a reminder
- When the reminder goes off, action the task
Do you answer all questions, and pre-empt further ones?
Often people will hit send on a reply and not realise that they have not answered
one of the questions in the email. This creates more traffic that can be avoided.
In the same vein, it's a good idea to supply any information the recipient may need,
which will avoid another two emails.
Do you add context/reasoning to your emails?
When sending an email it is important to give context and reasoning.
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Figure - Bad example: there is no context or reasoning!
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Figure - Good example: there is both context and reasoning!
Do you avoid the Rules Wizard?
Some people make extensive use of the rules wizard so that as email messages arrive
they already appear in the appropriately created folder. I basically think this
doesnt work as you never look at these emails.
I guess there could be special folders for bug reports that are sent by exception
handlers, but I still would not be keen on this.
A better way is Conversation View and collapsing them if you need to hide them.
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- Figure:
Conversation View allows you to choose which folders to collapse.
Do you use active language in your emails?
Try to use the active voice of a verb wherever possible. For instance, 'We will
process your order today', sounds better than 'Your order will be processed today'.
The first sounds more personal, whereas the latter, especially when used frequently,
sounds unnecessarily formal.
Do you know that people misunderstand sarcasm in email?
From Flame
emails missing the mark
on the Sydney Morning Herald: "The senders of the [email] messages expected
their partners to correctly interpret their tone nearly 80 per cent of the time,
but in fact they only scored just over 50 per cent... Those attempting to interpret
the message believed they had scored 90 per cent accuracy"
Because there is no "tone of voice" in an email, sarcasm can easily be
misinterpreted by the receiver.
Bad example: "John, make sure your office is clean when clients come
in - you might scare them away with all that mess."
This is bad because it may seem like John is being reprimanded, even though the
sender may just be giving him a "heads up" for next time. When in doubt,
use a smiley face at the end of the comment to soften it up a bit:
Good example: "John, make sure your office is clean when clients come
in - you might scare them away with all that mess :)"
Are you careful with your spelling, grammar and punctuation?
Improper spelling, grammar and punctuation gives a bad impression of your company,
and can result in your message not being conveyed correctly. Emails with no full
stops or commas are difficult to read and can sometimes even change the meaning
of the text. And, if your program has a spell checking option, why not use it?
Do you know how to add someone into the conversation?
If you think someone will be involved in a conversation but they're not on the
recipient list, all you need to do is reply all, put the new recipient in the 'CC'
field, and include one line that says "I'm adding this person into the loop
because I think they may have some input."
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- Figure: Adding a recipient to an email thread
Use Tasks only for Recurring Appointments
Often you will have personal tasks that need a recurring reminder. For example,
"send backup tapes offsite" might need to run as a reminder each Monday
morning. To manage these types of tasks you will use Outlooks "Tasks"
functionality to add recurring reminders.
Tasks in Outlook are a powerful tool for keeping on top of to-do items but since
we use email for our task list items you will
avoid using them otherwise you would need to do twice as much management for your
task list. You will use follow up flags with reminders for tasks on email that
only need to be handled once.
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- Figure: Use Tasks only for tasks that need recurring reminders.
Do you manage your Deleted Items?
Your deleted items can become quite out of hand if you don't manage them some way.
First, it can waste a lot of space on your hard drive, and second, after accidentally
deleting a mail item, and it's taken me days to find it again amongst the 30,000
messages in my Deleted Items Folder.
Here's a couple of solutions:
- Permanently delete your deleted items. This is based on the theory that once you
have deleted a mail item, you will NEVER HAVE TO LOOK AT IT AGAIN. This is a good
theory, but unfortunately we don't always follow it in practice and there's no recovery
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 - Figure: Deleted Items
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Move the items into subfolders under Deleted Items. This is a good solution as you
can manually archive items, making it easier to search. You can permanently delete
items when they reach a certain age.
NOTE: A hot tip for making it easy to search for an accidentally deleted item is
to add the "Modified" field into your Deleted Items view and sort by "Modified".
The item from two months ago which you just accidentally deleted will be sitting
at the top.
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 - Figure: Sort by "Modified"
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We have a program called SSW LookOut! for Outlook to
check for this rule.
It leaves a reminder in your Inbox to remind you to clear your deleted items folder.
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Do you include the name of the person you address
as the first line?
If you include more than one person in your email, include the name of the person/s
you are addressing as the first line. Generally don't put more than one name in
the "To" box, so that people won't have to be unsure to whom the email is addressed.
If you have to address multiple people in an email (including yourself - i.e. notes
to self), include each person's name as a heading as shown below. This helps them
quickly locate the part of the email that applies to them.
-
- Figure: When addressing multiple people, include each addressee's name as a separate
heading
Do you send tasks one email at a time?
Do you sometimes find that people don't attend to all the items you have listed
in your long and carefully drafted email?
Make it easier for everyone to track the status of tasks by sending tasks one email
at a time, and make the task it requests very clear. When a person has completed
a task they just have to reply "Done" to that email, delete the email
from their Inbox and then move on to the next task.
This rule can be by-passed when dealing with small tasks relating to the same topic.
In cases where this is needed, you will number each task that you wish to be completed;
however, the person completing the task will still reply a single "Done"
to the whole email once they have completed all of the small tasks.
Also send separate emails per topic - that way there can be one email per topic.
The advantages are that you get an email history on a specific topic and
it is easier to include someone else.
-
- Figure: GOOD - Separate emails for separate tasks.
-
- Figure: BAD - One email for separate tasks.
-
- Figure: GOOD - A few related tasks in one email.
Do you respond to each email individually?
(AKA - don't respond to a series of emails in one email) If you receive separate
emails, respond to each email individually. Don't answer a few emails in one email.
- Each email is a little job (eating the elephant one bit at a time)
- You get a steady flow back as bits are achieved (can get a feel or monitor employees
efficiency)
- You can move to 'todo' list folders
- You get a email history for that one topic
Do you use > and indentation to keep the context?
Electronic communication can easily cause misunderstandings. Help the reader understand
your message better by:
- Keeping the prior email in your reply
- Quote the original email by using the ">" and indentation
This way you won't forget any questions in the original email.
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>The program flow logic worries me a bit
Sorry, this wasn't a final decision - I just put it there for testing purposes.
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When you reply inline, do you use a different color?
Replying inline will be the exception rather than the rule as it messes up the
history of the email thread. If you do - copy and paste the entire email in your
reply and comment on each issue at a time. It's useful to indent and write your
comments in red. Remember, if you write emails with one issue at a time you won't
need to do this too often.
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-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel Hyles www.ssw.com.au
Sent: Tuesday, 28 May 2002 7:31 AM
To: Adam Cogan www.ssw.com.au
Subject: FW: Morning Goals
Reply In-line in red
-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel Hyles www.ssw.com.au
Sent: Monday, 27 May 2002 8:00 AM
To: Adam Cogan www.ssw.com.au
Subject: FW: Morning Goals
- TimePro Online pages
Done
- Double check backups (get backup today on both drives, I configured the other
drive last night)
Done
- Make sure Exchange is backing itself up.. Check Google on why not.
Not Done
- Access reporter
Not Done
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Figure: See the "Reply In-line" comment, and see how the RED makes the email easier
to read.
When asked to change content, do you reply with
the content before and after the change?
Your boss asks you to change a page on your website. You discuss it with your team
and come up with the changes. Wouldn't it be nice if your boss could see exactly
what was changed? Always keep a copy of what the page (or document) before you make
the change, and reply to the original email with the before and after.
Do you avoid emailing sensitive information?
Never email sensitive information such as Credit Card details, PINs or passwords.
Not only does it present serious security problems, it looks like you don't care
two-hoots about other people's information.
Do you always remember your attachment?
When you refer to an attachment in your email, don't forget to include the attachment.
I always attach the files first before I write my message.
We have a program called SSW LookOut! for Outlook to
check for this rule.
Figure: SSW LookOut! for Outlook automatically warns you if you have forgotten to
include your attachments.
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Do you avoid huge images or attachments in your email?
- Avoid large attachments. So if you are sending an email that is >1MB you need to
take one second to think:
- Could a URL be better than this attachment? (see example on the right)
- Could I send this a UNC to an internal share be better than this attachment?
- Could I .zip this?
- Could I put this picture on flickr or picasca?
PS: An added advantage is that the document stays alive. If the URL has been updated
and a user takes a week to get around to this email, they will view the latest version.
- If you have to attach the document, always use WinZip - it is common courtesy -
I'll assume you already know that.
- Never use Rich Text inside Outlook. As a software developer, most large messages
I receive are screen captures. By all means use screen captures - pictures do tell
a thousand words - but don't include unnecessarily huge images or attachments in
your email. Generally the only time you will have serious size problems is if you
are using Rich Text instead of HTML inside Outlook.
- If you are sending screenshots then just send the region of the screen you need.
Use a screen capture utility like
Fullshot so you can use the region tool and get only the relevant part of
the image you need. PS: Don't send screenshots as .bmps use .jpgs .gif or .png
- If you are sending pictures (every year digital cameras are making our photos bigger
and bigger) you may need to resize them down. You can either use Photoshop or for
something quicker try Office Document Imaging.
-
-
Figure: Office Document Imaging Resize and Export Options
When will you break these size rules?
Basically you will be practical:
- Keep history
- Paste images into the email - not into a Word document and attach (so it stays with
the customers reply)
- When you paste a URL, also paste the section of the web page you are referring to
(allows for offline reading)
We have a program called SSW LookOut! for Outlook to
check for this rule.
Figure: SSW LookOut! for Outlook warns you if your mail size is large.
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Do you use Word as your editor?
-
- Figure: Make sure you have this check box on
In Microsoft Outlook you have the option to use Word as your Email editor.
This has a few advantages:
- It automatically compresses images which you paste into your email (meaning a much
smaller size email)
- You get all the benefits of Word eg. Formatting and styles, spell checking smart
tags, thesaurus - the list goes on and on.
- With the emergence of some great 3rd Party Smart Tags you can integrate your database
in your email program. Companies often forget that improving users ability to handle
email efficiently can be one of the biggest productivity gains you can achieve.
-
- Figure: See the difference in size
Do you resist the urge to SPAM to an email alias?
When you post to an email alias, you are posting to many, many people. Unnecessary
emails are spam - only send emails that are valid or if there is a need for all
to see.
Do you avoid sending your emails immediately?
-
- Figure: Don't send emails immediately - you will often remember something you needed
to add
How often have you clicked "Send" and then wished you hadn't? It's a common problem.
It can be easily solved by un-checking the "Send Immediately When Connected" option
in Tools/ Options/ Mail Setup. I guarantee this will save you, one day!
We have a program called SSW LookOut! for Outlook to
check for this rule.
It checks your Outlook settings and tell you if it's not set properly.
Figure: SSW LookOut! for Outlook warns you if Outlook is set to send emails immediately |
Do you know how to recall an email?
Even though you may check your emails before sending, use SSW lookout to help you
avoid mistakes, and even if you send/receive manually, there will still be times
where you will send out an email with mistakes or incorrect content.
But all is not lost. If you go into your sent items, open up the offending email,
and go into Actions | Recall this Message, outlook will attempt to delete the message
from the recipient's inbox before he has a chance to read it.
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- Figure: SSW LookOut! for Outlook warns you if Outlook is set to send emails immediately
Outlook will tell you whether it was successful or not.
Can you sort your emails by ClientID?
When sending emails internally about a Client, include the Client ID as the first
word in the subject of the email. This makes it very simple when you are trying
the find emails about that client or product. If you're emailing about a product
also include the version number in the Subject as well.
Bad Example
Subject: Meeting regarding Quicken Smart Tags
Good Example
Subject: QUICK - Meeting regarding Smart Tags v1.1
Instead of doing this manually, you can use SSW LookOut!, which puts a Client ID
field into your Outlook view.
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- Figure: SSW LookOut! adds a Client ID into your Outlook view so you can sort by
client
Do you manage your email accounts?
I've met some people who have more the 5 email accounts. Now I know that it's pretty
easy to get a temporary account while you're on holiday in Spain, or an email account
one of your clients might choose to give you while you are working on-site.
We always use Outlook Web Access or VPN when we're out of the office and need to
email. If a clients firewall won't let us do this, and we have to use a local account,
we always CC our internal account on every email we send. Emails are an important
record for your business, and they need to be treated as legally relevant documents.
Having multiple accounts will only cause trouble.
Do you use "Request a Receipt" selectively?
-
- Figure: Selectively request read receipts so as not to annoy your recipient.
Do you always demand a receipt for every email you send? This is the equivalent
of crying wolf. People get prompted about receipts so often, that eventually they
change the settings to automatically ignore receipt requests. Then when someone
really, really needs acknowledgement that an email has been received, you never
get one, because they've turn off the mechanism. Turning this option on all the
time effectively throws the option away, not just for yourself, but everyone else
as well.
Do you send Outlook Calendar appointments when appropriate?
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If you wish to organize a meeting that involves some of your colleagues and a client,
instead of sending an email, send an appointment. Sending appointments is convenient
because all the user has to do is click 'accept' and it is in their calendar.
-
 - Figure: Use Outlook appointments to easily synchronise your calendar with your client's
This way Outlook will remind your colleagues about the appointment and you can update
them if any changes are made.
If the appointment is for 3 days or less, send a separate appointment for
each day. This is because multiple-day appointments appear at the top in your Outlook
Calendar, so you risk missing the appointment (see below).
-
 - Figure - Bad: Multiple-day appointments appear hidden at the top of your Outlook
calendar, so you might miss it, thinking that the time is free
-
 - Figure - Good: Send a separate appointment for each day so you can clearly see it
in your Outlook calendar
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Do you know how to add an appointment in someone else's calendar?
When sending an appointment from someone else's calendar, you should always include that person as an attendee so that
they also receive the same appointment email that their guests do. It shows them that the invitation
has been sent, and also allows them to check for any mistakes or additional information that needs to be added.
Have you done follow-up for tomorrow appointment?
Step 1: Get the appointment
-
- Figure: Calendar page
Step 2: Reply to All
-
- Figure: Sent to all participators
Step 3: Change from RTF to HTML
-
- Figure: Change format to HTML
Step 4: And type [below]
-
- Figure: Types the messages
Appointments - Do you see who is coming to the
meeting in the subject?
When sending an appointment, it's a good idea to choose your subject intelligently
so that people can see in their calendar who will be attending without having to
open the item. Think about what the recipient sees in their calendar and try to
make it as clear as possible.
-
- Figure: Bad appointment subject
-
- Figure: