I’m starting a new job, in Feb. Well, an old job that I’m doing again. Well, no. More like a promotion/re-employment at a company I’ve worked (on and off for) for a couple of years. Anyways, I’ll be “back” more than I will be “new”. Since I’ve been gone, I’ve noticed that different organisations have different email cultures, but pretty much all of them are varying degrees of bad. So, to give us a real edge (and to save my sanity) the first thing I’m doing is gathering everyone together so I can present the company’s new Official Email Policy. A simple, reasonable (seemingly obvious) set of easy rules. I believe that at least 50% of productivity and an even greater amount of workplace harmony can be saved just through basic rules of emailing. For example, no one may forward someone else an 18-mail email chain (spanning 4 months) from someone they don’t know, and be like, “Here! Everything you need to know is in these 18 mails and six word documents. Ignore anything that’s not relevant to you.” Of course, you’ll only now what’s relevant once you’ve spent a full day trying to understand what any of it is. No, no. In my Brave New World, if you send a mail without a clear subject header that makes it easier to search for the conversation later (“Hi Gord” is not good enough), it will not be read. If it doesn’t have an opening paragraph explaining exactly what the task/s or question/s is/are, what all the attachments are and why they’re relevant to me, with the bits that matter to me highlighted, it will not be actioned. Forwarding someone your entire work relationship with someone else and expecting them to detective what they’re supposed to know/do from a standing start… that’s like leaving your briefcase at someone’s house and wondering why they haven’t done your work for you when you come and collect it. Emails need to be ABOUT something and addressed TO someone. “Hey someone, here’s a conversation I once had. Please figure out what to do, when to do it, and who it’s for. Thanks” will no longer cut it. I see this everywhere I’ve ever worked. In every organisation I’ve worked in/for, people’s ability to email effectively directly affects how seriously they’re taken, how well they’re liked by colleagues, and how effective they are.