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Most people I know who have jobs in technology or management receive tons of emails.  A lot of those emails are pretty bad and result in them wasting a large chunk of their day.  In an effort to reduce the impact of bad emails on those around me, I try to follow a simple set of guidelines.  I have summarized them in these 21 tips.

Yes, 21 seems like a large number of items to remember, but I expect that you are already following a number of these… so you should only have to add one or two to your process. Plus, you are good at counting cards…. so 21 should be a perfect number for you.

1. If you ask for something, ask in a bulleted or numbered lists.  Sticking multiple action items into a paragraph guarantees that they will not get done.
2. Indicate when something is actionable or just for people’s information.
3. If you ask a question in an email, make sure to call out who it is to. E.g. Instead of “where is the IBA project estimate” use “Brett:  Can you send me the IBA project estimate”
4. Use priority flags correctly in your emails.  22 of the 37 emails I received from someone last month were marked “High Importance”,  only about three were actually High Importance… boy who cried wolf syndrome.  I stopped reading his emails.
5. Do not email everyone and their dad.  Feel free to limit your responses to specific people who care about and can do something about your questions/issues. Note: be sure to email your dad for Fathers Day.
6. If you really need something done, email a single recipient and follow up verbally (face to face, or on the phone).
7. Use spell checker if you are on your computer.
8. Review your email aloud before you send it out.  If you vocalize your email, you will likely pick up a lot of problems and typos.
9. Ask yourself what can be removed from your email when you review it. Remove fluff.
10. If you send an email to multiple people asking for action, don’t followup to all of them with one email,  touch base with or email them each individually.
11. Don’t over use abbreviations,  asap, imho, wrt…. if you type 40-70 words per minute you don’t need to pretend you are text messaging or paying per character.
12. Think about the tone of the email your are sending… Will everyone read it the same way in which you wrote it.  General  items that I know create bad tone include: Profanity,  directly pointing out incompetence (facts should speak for themselves), and bad mouthing someone.  Assume your email will be forwarded to A) your mom and B) Anyone you have discussed in the email.
13. If you are going to include an attachment, ask yourself if you can cut a certain part of the attachment out and put it directly in your email.  (E,g, an excel table or paragraph of text from a word doc ).  A lot of your readers will be consuming your email on a mobile device and attachments are still annoying on iPhones, blackberries, and Androids.
14. Don’t write a 5 page diatribe,  if it takes you 2 hours to write it and it take people an hour to read it, you may be better picking up the phone to call people.
15. If is a long email chain, cut a paste the parts that are important to the person you are sending it to.  Do not force people to scroll down to see your edits.
16. Get rid of that stupid 600 word legal disclaimer.  If what you are sending could get you in legal trouble, I recommend you don’t send it via email.  As a matter of fact, here is a better tip:  “Try and avoid things that could get you in legal trouble”
17. Include your contact information footer only when necessary (signature),  you should only need to include contact footer in origin emails.
18. Avoid Flame wars,  if you have a problem with what someone says, talk with the over the phone or face to face.  Using email to get in a pissing match is childish…. we are not in middle school.
19. Avoid Read receipts…. seriously…. Who uses read receipts??
20. Use simple words,  showing off your vocabulary is not cool.  Complex language is especially counterproductive when you are working with offshore teams.
21. Avoid using background images…. ugh.    True mark of non-professionalism.

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I don’t understand the concept of this Oath.  It seems to me that if you need so sign a pledge form to achieve this type of behavior, that you have more behavioral problems than can be fixed by a simple piece of paper.    I am not saying I am against this oath,  but it brings to light a larger social problem of humanity.   Kids who are 3 or 4 years old need someone to tell them how to be nice and look out for one another;  I consider it rather insulting that someone needs to tell 28 year old’s with 6+years of secondary education how to be nice and look out for one another.

Is it safe to assume that if you reach 28 years old with out figuring out the golden rule, then you have no chance of changing?

Maybe they are looking at the wrong target group for this MBA oath,  I suggest we should focus on kids in middle schools and their parents.  Young people who are impressionable still have the opportunity to change their behaviors and opinions.   Parents need to spend time with their kids and be good role models. Watch TV with your kids and have discussions with them about what it  right and wrong, ask them how things make them feel. Better yet, turn off the TV and read with them.   TV shows no longer try to impart moral wisdom on kids.  When I was little, we had the A-team, Magnum PI, Fall Guy, and Night Rider; these shows all had a moral and a story about how the bad guys were bad because they did wrong.  Now our kids watch The OC,  Gossip Girls, Sweet 16, the Hills, and a myriad of reality TV shows that have despicable people with wealth who treat other people like crap and seem to be rewarded for it.  I’m tired of seeing kids growing up with lack of values around them.  An MBA oath is the right set of values, but it is taught about 20 years to late.

In summary: MBA Oath==Stupid. Good things happen to good people.  TV==Bad Role Model. Be a good parent.

Reference: http://mbaoath.org/

Example 1:

“How about instead of coming to work, I stay at home and watch cartoons all day.  You can call me if its an emergency, but I will only call you back during commercials, so you only have about 90 seconds. “

Example 2:

Admin guy (over the phone): “I can’t come in today and work on those server configurations”

Manager guy: “Are you sick? did something happen?”

Admin guy: “Well I was up all night working on those critical system backups”

Manager guy: “Those took all night?”

Admin guy: “Actually they took 11 hours”

Manager guy: “You spent 11 hours on them, what did you have to do”

Admin guy: “Well, I kicked off the backup script and checked it every 3-4 hours to see if it was still running.”

Manager: “So you didn’t actually work for 11 hours, you just worked for a few minutes.”

Admin guy: “I mean… if something had gone wrong i would have been there to work on it and fix it.”

Manager guy: “So, why didn’t you work on the server configurations last night?”

Admin guy: “Well, between checking the backups I was sleeping”

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