a FeW CaUTiOnS aBOUT inSTanT WriTing
We’ve come a long way from the days of communicating with
letters chiseled on stone tablets or scrawled with sticks in the dirt.
Today’s preferred method, e-mail, offers so many advantages and
is so firmly entrenched in business culture that it’s impossible to
conduct business without it. But in view of the suggestions for good
business writing we just discussed, it’s worth noting several char-
acteristics about e-mail that counter these writing techniques.
E-mail liabilities include:
• Because you can send it so fast, you can send it too fast (and
wish you hadn’t).
The need for speed, enabled by the e-mail medium, encourages
us to write without considering a message’s effect—on the recipi-
ent, on others who receive a copy, or on others unknown to you
who may be copied now or at a later time. It’s worthwhile to take
a moment to think about a message’s tone—ask a colleague if the
topic warrants it—before firing off that reply.
• A “private” e-mail message is not private.
Paper has a way of falling into the wrong hands sometimes,
too. The problem here is that e-mail creates the illusion of privacy.
But the e-mail system is a business resource, and all the messages
sent are the property of the business. Think about all those e-mails
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that turn up at trials. E-mails also can easily be sent to the wrong
people. The stories of e-mails inadvertently sent to unintended
recipients—hitting “reply all” instead of “reply” is the classic
method—are legendary and quite amusing as long as they’re not
about you. Don’t e-mail it if you don’t want the world to read it. If
you anticipate that you may need to save an e-mail before finishing
it, address it to yourself in case it’s inadvertently sent.
• E-mail messages are forever.
You can’t take it back. You may be able to erase your copy, but it
most certainly will remain on the company’s server—indefinitely.
• The delivery system doesn’t diminish the importance of the
quality of the message.
You still need to think, organize, write, revise, and make sure
the tone is appropriate for your message and your audience. We
haven’t invented the technology to do the creating for us.
• The sheer volume of e-mail.
The average worker receives more than fifty e-mails every day.
Many of us receive substantially more, and it’s time consuming
just to review them all. Set up filters in your e-mail client to orga-
nize and separate what’s important from the personal mail that
can wait. Then, instead of dealing with one inbox containing all
your e-mails, you can select smaller folders based on priorities
you’ve established.
You must discipline your use of e-mail or risk getting caught up
in a time-gobbling, mind-numbing round of point-counterpoint dia-
logue. You may need to establish e-mail–free zones in your day, or
to set regular periods when you will read and reply to your e-mails.
E-mail is a tool—and nothing more. Select it when it’s the best
method of communication in a given situation. There’ll still be
room for the confidential written memo, the formal business let-
ter, the telephone call, and for the announcement tacked on the
bulletin board.
C O M M U N I C AT I O N S
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