Thomas Umstattd Jr.

Happy Monday! I wanted to share with you something I found on the Bad Language Blog . About doing a better job at your email. If you ever feel overwhelmed or frustrated with email this post is for you.

Most emails are badly written. No surprise, perhaps, since we write more emails than anything else. By 2010, the business world will have produced 27,000 billion gigabytes of email . So what goes wrong?

• Not written with the reader in mind
• Not written to be scanned or read quickly
• Too many topics in one email
• Important information or requests buried in verbiage
• Reply in haste, repent at leisure
• Poor grammar, spelling and punctuation
• Using email when some other communication would have been better

So I have drafted ten laws for better email:

1. Email is about the reader, not the writer.
2. Email exists to solve problems, not create them .
3. The headline is the email .
4. Fewer words, greater understanding .
5. Emoticons rule!!
6. Think before you forward .
7. Respect privacy in group emails .
8. Be succinct .
9. Highlight actions and key points . I
10. Wait a minute .

For more information on each of these points visit the Bad Language Blog .
Here are some other posts on topic of email.

• How to process twice the email in half the time – Part 1
• How to process twice the email in half the time – Part 2

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

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