Tips for Better E-Mail, Part 8: Put First Things First

Take the lead from Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, which advises the reader to put first things first. In this vein, prioritize your inbox and outbox. Being vigilant about what goes first and what goes last will increase your efficiency. Devise a “rating system” for handling all e-mail. Example:

• 1 = essential
• 2 = important
• 3 = optional
• 4 = useless

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Tips for Better E-Mail, Part 7: Create Your Own System

Time-management problems with e-mail come in large measure from becoming a slave to the system. Establish a strategy for dealing with e-mail. Convincing yourself that you manage e-mail and it doesn’t manage you gives you a strategic edge. Create e-mail moments. Examples:

• Infrequent e-mailers should aim for a consistent “e-hour” each day.
• More frequent e-mailers should aim for an hour at the beginning and middle of the day.
• Busy e-mailers should aim for the first half of each hour.

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Tips for Better E-Mail, Part 6: Silence Those Bells and Whistles!

Try living without the auto-notice feature. Those seconds spent looking at your e-mail inbox each time a new message arrives kill the flow of whatever you were doing, and they add unnecessary minutes to thinking about what those e-mails may contain. Then those minutes become hours. Turn off the auto-notice to reduce interruptions, if you can get away with it.

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Tips for Better E-Mail, Part 5: Blind Copy Thoughtfully

If you’re interested in maintaining good relationships, consider carefully whether you should blind copy. Many employees tell me that their managers insist on being blind copied on many e-mails; however, I do not consider such a practice as underhanded because we all know that our managers have the right to read those e-mails we write on the company system.

Blind copying enrages people not when you blind copy your boss but when you blind copy their boss, or project leader, or peer without their knowledge. Blind copying could be a serious ethical breach resulting in a loss of credibility and respect.

Blind copy only in situations which would not later cause you an embarrassing or defensive position. Blind copying messages to a distribution list is an example of a good practice because you spare each reader the trouble of sloughing through an endless recipient list.

Here's a guideline that will keep you out of harm's way: If you feel comfortable telling someone that you've blind copied to his boss the message you wrote to him, then you should be okay. But then why would you have bothered blind copying in the first place?


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