About that email: Keep it simple, stupid
December 14th, 2007 : Carrie DowningAre you guilty of writing florid, lengthy emails in your work life? It might be time to meditate on the five-sentences-or-less philosophy espoused in the signatures of some people’s emails. I’m not sure I can totally jump on this bandwagon, but maybe that’s just my love of my own words getting in the way.
The website appropriately details the philosophy in five sentences (not including the footer).
If you’re a believer, add it to your sig: http://five.sentenc.es/
December 14th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Addendum — You could easily undermine the value of this philosophy by writing really long sentences, such as this record-busting 5237-word gem written by 15 year old Mark Virtue in 1980.
December 17th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
How about a complete email
December 17th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
How about taking it one step further and declaring a complete email moratorium one day a week? I know we all have experienced “email defeat”. Wasn’t email supposed to make work easier?
December 26th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
I’ve always been of the opinion that if someone writes me a long email, it’s because they have either something important to say or several things to communicate. Skimming or just not reading long emails is rude at best and destructive at worst, since you’re obviously missing something, whether it’s trivial or vital.
I can the thought process behind this, and I would take it one step further: People like this will usually only pick up on one subject per email. In my experience, people who blow off long emails also often remember your first point and ignore the rest.
Catering to those who won’t take the time to read their correspondence seems like putting a band-aid on a compound fracture; the solution, I think, is patience and (somehow) stopping the cultural ADD which is infecting everything lately.