Solving the E-Mail Overload Problem

Source: Catalyst: The leading edge of Ohio business  

It is not difficult to imagine spending all your time reading and responding to e-mails. Here is some advice on how firms can deal with the problem:

• Establish models for use of subject lines. 
  • Indicate things such as “no reply needed” and “response needed by” (date/time).
  • Whenever possible, use the subject line for the entire message.
  • The subject line should summarize, not describe. It should provide the reader with information needed to determine the message's relevance.
• Decide who needs to be copied on various types of communications.
• Indicate what needs to be reviewed and what needs to be saved.
• If you receive an e-mail that is not relevant, reply with one word: “relevant?”
• Keep e-mails short—no more than five sentences.
• Include the main idea in the first sentence.
• Bad news should be delivered in person, not by e-mail.
• After two rounds of e-mails dealing with a problem, stop the e-mails and continue the dialogue in person.
• The speed of the response should match the importance of the message.
• Resist the temptation to stop what you are doing to read an incoming message.
• Set rules on what should be delivered personally, by voicemail, by e-mail, and by instant text messaging.
• Provide training on how to prevent e-mail from reducing productivity. This will be a valuable investment.

From Catalyst: The leading edge of Ohio business (the magazine of the Ohio Society of CPAs), March/April 2007.

For the complete article, visit http://www.ohioscpa.com/cms/article.aspx?article=5966 and select the article Who Has Time for Anything but E-Mail? Note: Since publishing this article, the Catalyst changed to a subscription newsletter.  You will need to subscribe to get the complete article.