:: EMail Etiquette
Posted by Andrew
In the beginning there was the Memo, which everyone circulated around the office to create a protective paper trail. Then came the Fax, a wonderful electronic device that allowed you to instantly communicate with colleagues in distant places, and Memos became easier (and faster) to distribute across the company or the campus. Alas, our reach has now begun to exceed our grasp with the development of something called an e-Mail, which has turned out to be an even quicker way to communicate (and mis-communicate) with our fellow workers.
The immediacy of e-mail has created pressure, real or imagined, for a quick response. That response quite often lacks forethought, and suddenly e-mail etiquette is breached. Not a good idea if you care what people think of you. So what are some simple rules we can all live by?
Don’t abuse your e-mail privileges. If you’re sending a lot of information, why not throw it up on your website and send everyone a URL? Otherwise you’re going to send a huge, long message that probably won’t be read, let alone opened. Sending a megabyte e-mail to your many friends around the university can bog down servers, mailboxes, and desktops. If you must send a large document, zip it up using a file compression program.
Not everyone can open a PDF (Portable Document File). If you attach one to your message, at least try to summarize what it says in the body of your e-mail so that the information still gets through. A simple but effective courtesy.
Personal e-mail is one thing, but you don’t need to get fancy at the office. Save the background colour and stationery for your friends. Brash colours, cute little emot-icons, frogs and ducks and flowers don’t belong in a business environment. The same goes for Auto Signatures. Keep them civilized. No more information than you’d see on a business card.
Don’t be afraid to clean up a long string of e-mails before you reply or forward them to colleagues. “Do I really have to include every e-mail and reply?” should be a question you regularly ask yourself before you hit Send. People can find the other messages if they want to. No one will ever complain because you didn’t include a long string of paragraphs; nor will they demand that you make your e-mails longer!
If you’re really upset over something, don’t be a cyber coward. Go and talk to the individual before you fire off a furious e-mail that you’ll inevitably regret later. Many problems are solved by leaning on a doorway and getting eye-contact. Arguing back and forth in writing can be a Career Limiting Move.
Please, please, please re-read your e-mail before you send it. It takes only moments, but you’re going to save yourself a great deal of embarrassment. Unless you think that bad spelling, gross grammar, obvious errors and twisted syntax are ok, because it shows that you’re a busy person. Except what it really says is: I don’t care.
Make the Subject line relevant, if for no other reason than to save your colleagues a lot of time and trouble when they’re trying to find your message. “Inaccurate transaction on June pay record” is better than “paycheque” in the Subject line. (Thanks to Mark Pearson in Medicine for that tip) Using an old Subject line that doesn’t relate to the current message is another common transgression. Keep it current. Newspapers don’t repeat yesterday’s headlines today. Oh, and don’t use exclamation points in Subject lines - the spam filters will probably reject your message as junk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How long should your message be? The general rule is: No longer than the length of your screen.
Finally, remember what Ralph Waldo Emerson said about manners. “Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices.” Your time is important, but sacrificing a bit of your time to review your e-mail etiquette can result in better communication, more effective messages, and ironically — free up some time for other things.
Source: update.estrategy.ubc.ca
