Desktop E-mail Etiquette

Edit the subject line.

The message from your co-worker's subject is "hi," and inside he inquires about how your vacation was, and whether or not you can update the web site link to the archive page on the Smith story and widen the graphic just a bit. When you respond, change the subject line to something more obvious, ie, "Re: Smith story updates (was: hi)" so that the rest of the thread is easily identified, sorted and searched.

Facilitate complete responses.

If you send a message with multiple parts that each require a response, format the message with breaks or asterisks to make it obvious and easy. That is, instead of:

Hi Jane,

Got your message about Tuesday, thanks!  What's 
the conference room number?  Turns out I'm going 
to drive instead of take the train. Will I need 
a parking pass?  Also, I have the Powerpoint 
presentation on my laptop.  Is there a projector 
available I can hook it up to, or should I bring my 
own?

Go with this:

Hi Jane,

I'm all set for Tuesday.  A couple of questions for you:

* What is the conference room number?
* If I drive, who should I talk to for 
a parking pass?
* Is there a projector available that I can 
connect my laptop to?

When Jane sends you a message with a gaggle of questions, break up her response by part and respond inline to each yourself.

Set From: to the best address.

I get tons of Lifehacker-related email to my personal email address, but I want to keep those inboxes separate. So whenever someone sends me a message to my personal box, I hit reply but change the From: field to my editor at lifehacker.com address. This means the rest of the thread goes into my Lifehacker inbox, and recipients update their entry for my Lifehacker personality in their address books.

Respond after a few hours.

Email was never meant for instant, real time communication. Even if you are checking your email real time (and you shouldn't be unless you don't get anything else done), don't respond to non-emergency messages right away, especially from co-workers. It sets an impossible expectation for the future. My goal is to respond to unsolicited email from clients and readers after a few hours, but within 24 to 48 hours.

Set action expectations.

When an email message contains a request that will take more than just a few minutes, respond asking what the deadline is, any other details you need to get started, about how long it will take you to complete and about how busy you are at the moment. A quick response will please the requester but also show him or her that your time is a commodity. These types of questions will often head off and kill unimportant requests and help you schedule necessary ones.

Get outside the inbox.

Although it's often people's default mode of communication, email is not a panacea. Some discussions are better had in person or over the phone. If you receive a message that's unclear, rambling, flamey, too long or confusing cut it off at the pass. Simply respond, "Let's discuss over the phone. What's your number and when's a good time to call?" It's amazing how much more quickly complex decisions and discussions can be made and had outside the inbox - not to mention the change in tone and reduction of misunderstandings about sensitive subjects.

Gently (but firmly) teach the basics of email lists.

I can't count the number of times I've watched newbies on a mailing list reply to the whole list with messages meant for one or two people. If you're the list admin or even just a participant, gently remind these folks to double-check the addresses to which they are sending messages, and to only send messages relevant to the ENTIRE list to the list address. Do this off the list. No one likes a public spanking.

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