Email like a Boss
- Remove all notifications about new email.
- You’re not the President of the United States who needs to react to a nuclear threat. Emails/calls can always wait a few minutes.
- Agree on email response times (e.g., one/two business days)
- Never send emails outside office hours
- Many modern email clients now have a “Send Later” functionality. Use it if you work ouside office hours.
Read email in batches
- Schedule reading at least once per day, what works for you.
- Expect ~30 sec to process every email (i.e., decide what to do with it, see below).
- Strive for “inbox zero”1—every day.
- The inbox is for emails you have have decided what to do with yet.
- If you open an email—make a decision.
- Action required (takes ≤2 min2)? Do it now
- Action required (takes >2 min)? Schedule it
- Action required (but waiting for something/someone)? Set a reminder
- Action not required? Archive
- Other emails go into the archive. Also all emails that required action go into the archive after action is taken.
- I’ve found that just archiving all emails is more efficient than spending time to sort them into subfolder. When you want a certain email, just search for it.
- In general: Do not answer mails that you’ve been CC’ed on.
- (Almost) never use “Reply All”.
- Want fewer emails? Send fewer emails.
Write your email backwards
Sorry I’m writing a long email, but I did not have time to write a short one.
- Start with jotting down what you want to say in the body of the email. If it is a really short message, consider using only the subject line, ending it with “EOM” (End of Message).
- Keep email short, clear, and on topic.
- ChatGPT can help to make emails more coherent, consise, and to the point.
- A good rule of thumb is to aim for max 5 sentences. If it is longer than that, email is probably not the right way to communicate.
- AVOID CAPITAL LETTERS
- Avoid irony and sarcasm
- Do not use more than one exclamation mark!!!!!!! Same goes for the question mark???? And dots…….. (what you want here is the ellipsis “…”).
- Mind your language.
- Avoid profanity.
- Be polite, and not overly apologetic (see Table 1).
- Use abbreviations, symbols, and emojis sparingly.
Note on emojis
Emojis are meant to convey emotion in writing. Correctly used, they are irreplaceable in making sure your message is read in the intended tone of voice, even in professional email.
| What You’re Really Saying | Instead of Saying… | Say This Instead |
|---|---|---|
| I know your time is valuable | Sorry to bother you | Appreciate you making time for this |
| That might have been unclear | Sorry for the confusion | Let me clarify that for you |
| I’m learning and want to get it right | Sorry for asking so many questions | I value your insight as I learn more |
| I want to contribute thoughtfully | Sorry for jumping in | May I offer a thought here? |
| I can explain this better | Sorry if that didn’t make sense | Let me rephrase that to be clearer |
| I need some guidance | Sorry, I’m not sure how to do this | Could you walk me through the next step? |
| I need to express something | Sorry for venting | Thank you for listening |
| I appreciate your attention | Sorry for taking up your time | Grateful for the opportunity to share this |
| I took a while, but you can deal | Sorry for the delay | Thanks for your patience |
| My schedule matters too | What works best for you? | Could you do :? |
| Yeah, you’re welcome | No problem / No worries! | Always happy to help! |
| I know what I’m doing | I think maybe we should __ | It’d be best if we __ |
| Wording this is hard | Rewriting email for 40 minutes | It’d be easier to discuss in person |
| Do you get it? | Hopefully that makes sense? | Let me know if you have questions |
| Where the heck are we on this? | Just wanted to check in | When can I expect an update? |
| I made a small error | Sorry I missed that | Nice catch! I’ve updated it now. Thanks for letting me know! |
| I have an appointment | Could I possibly leave early? | I will need to leave for ___ at ___ |
Note on attachments
Prefer links to secure servers over attaching files.
- Next, summarize message and action-points in the beginning of an email.
- Write an accurate (and short) subject line.
- Consider starting your subject lines with a word such as:
- Action:
- Info/FYI:
- Question:
- Feedback:
- Does the email contain links to draft working material? Write “draft” in the subject.
- Avoid confidential info on the subject line.
Stick to one topic
New topic? New email.
Do not take the opportunity to discuss a little bit of this and that.
- Read through the email once (yes, once is enough), and correct any obvious mistakes.
- Add the recipients after you’ve written the email, that way you don’t accidentally send an unfinished email.
- Hit send! (or “Send Later” if you work outside office hours)
- CC can be viewed as ”For your information”
- If you put someone in CC, don’t expect them to answer. It is either not actionable for them, or not directly related to them.
- Don’t overuse CC. Everybody does not need to know everything.
CC & BCC
CC = “carbon copy”. Back in the days before internet and email, in order to create a copy of the letter you were writing, you had to place carbon paper between the one you were writing on and the paper that was going to be your copy.
BCC = “blind carbon copy.” It’s called blind carbon copy because the other recipients won’t be able to see that someone else has been sent a copy of the email. While you can see a list of recipients when CC is used, that’s not the case with BCC. No one ever sees the BCC list. A BCC can reply to the sender, but other recipients can’t send to BCC recipient with “reply all”.
Do not use email for these situations
- When you require a quick answer (call them or go face-to-face instead)
- When you want to give negative feedback (go face-to-face instead)
- When you need to deliver bad news (go face-to-face instead)
- When you are emotional (write a draft and send later instead)