Email do and don’t

Email is now part of everyday life and each day we receive and send plenty of them. But communicating through email isn’t as easy as one might think. In the book Send: The How, Why, When and When Not of Email by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe explain how we with a little mindfulness and a few simple rules can all avoid e-mail disasters. Well worth thinking about before hitting the Send-button the next time.

To:
Don’t confuse the "To" field with "Cc". For example, if you want to thank one person – but you want other people to knowabout it – put the other people in the "Cc" line. If you cram them all in the “To” field,the person being thanked is likely to feel slighted.

To is not Cc:
If you just want to make sure that people are kept in the loop, then they don’t belong in the "To" field; they belong in a . . . "Cc".

What a "Cc" says is simply this: I want you to know what’s going on, even though you probably don’t have to do anything about it.Because its purpose is so murky, a “Cc” is a political and hierarchical minefield.

A Few Words on Being Mean
If you’re going to be mean, it’s best not to do it on e-mail, for practical reasons as well as cosmic ones.

Angry EmailsWhen it comes to angry emails, ask yourself the following before hitting the Send key:would you deliver the same message, in the same words, if you were within punching distance?

The Eight Deadly Sins of E-mail
1. The e-mail that’s unbelievably vague: "Remember to do that thing."
2. The e-mail that insults you so badly you have to get up from your desk: "HOW CAN YOU NOT HAVE DONE THAT THING?!!!!"
3. The e-mail that puts you in jail: "Please tell them that I asked you to sell that thing when it hit $70."
4. The e-mail that’s cowardly: "Here’s the thing: you’re being let go."
5. The e-mail that won’t go away: "Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: that thing."
6. The e-mail that’s so sarcastic you have to get up from your desk: "Smooth move on that thing. Really smooth."
7. The e-mail that’s too casual: "Hiya! Any word on that admissions thing?"
8. The e-mail that’s inappropriate: "Want to come to my hotel room to discuss that thing?"