I get between 200 and 300 e-mails each day on top of the full agenda of meetings usually running from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM most days. So I try to be as efficient as possible and multi-task during the meetings. But this is very difficult when e-mails are multiple paragraphs long with links and attachments. I see so many problems with long e-mails….
- They are long
- They don’t get to the point so it is hard to tell salient points
- It takes up the time of the sender and the reader
- They are long
- I cant tell what the person is trying to say
- It seems like rambling
- There is an assumption that we want this level of detail
- They are long
I would strongly suggest a few things…..
- Figure out what you are trying to say and craft the message around the key points, but keep it under a few sentences
- I have a ‘scroll rule’ meaning if I have to scroll then the message is too long
- If you absolutely need to have details list them as an attachment and reference it
- Have some structure to your e-mail instead of just paragraphs of information – I like to use section headings with a different color (e.g. “Key Points” or “Action Required”)
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