Mar
12
0

Keep it short and sweet…

Author Eve Dmochowska    Category Gripes     Tags

It goes without saying that we live in a world of information overload. So anything that gets news to us quickly and efficiently, is a bonus. I guess that is why Twitter is popular (although the efficiency of Twitter is highly deceptive).

Our inbox (or at least mine) is my efficiency downfall. Right now I have 300 emails in my inbox, with 100 of them unread.

I thought it would be interesting to point out how I deal with emails.


Since I use Gmail, I have mostly these options:
1. Leave email in inbox unread for now
2. Read and delete
3. Read and leave in inbox
4. Read and archive.
5. Archive unread.
6. Delete unread.

I can also label and star the email, which I tend to do through filters (the labels get applied automatically as the emails come into the inbox).

Options 5 and 6 are my preferred ones, since they require minimum effort on my part. But here’s the thing: My Gmail shows me the first line of the email in my inbox. So very often, that is all I read before performing action 5 or 6. So, for instance, if I see an email in my box that says in the first line

“Thanks for the info! Cheers, Bianca”

I know I can delete it without actually opening it. I’ve already gathered all the info I could from that email.

Or have I?

What if Bianca had added a PS after her signature, along the lines of

“Oh, btw, the meeting tomorrow has been moved from 11 am to 10 am. Let me know if that’s a problem”

Well ..yeah… it’s a problem. I wouldn’t see the postscript, since I would have assumed this was a simple “Thank you” email, and would have deleted it. That could lead to big problems. Far better for Bianca to send two separate emails, with short texts in each. Of course, Bianca really has no way of knowing that.

That’s why I am a fan of Twitter. I will never, ever ignore a DM twitter message. For starters, I know it’s only at most 140 characters, so it’s a quick read. My email inbox, on the other hand, is growing and growing in size. I have already declared email bankruptcy more than once (and the world continued to turn!)

Anything that simplifies life is a clear winner in my box. And keeping news short is a good start. But in the meantime, please prioritize your email content: the most important info should come first, to grab my attention. Otherwise, we might just have a big problem, for which we will blame each other.

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