Musings from the CU Suite

Jan 05, 2017

L'email

Written by Anthony Demangone

The French government is tackling the issue of work email.

A new French labor law will require companies with more than 50 employees to negotiate an email process that ensures work doesn't bleed into "after-hours." The New York Times did a nice piece here if you want to learn more. 

Image result for eiffel tower reading emails

Email is important for work. It isn't going away. Could such a law or regulation take hold in the U.S.? I won't hazard a guess. But could we improve the use of email? 

Of course!

I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. The Email Charter is an effort to set some common guidelines for email. Here are their rules:

  1. Respect recipients' time
  2. Short or slow is not rude
  3. Celebrate clarity
  4. Quash open-ended questions
  5. Slash surplus CC's
  6. Tighten the thread
  7. Attach attachments
  8. Give the gifts of EOM NNTR. (If you want to know what that means, read the Email Charter)
  9. Cut contentless responses
  10. Disconnect

I went through the list, and there are a number of the suggestions that I can better incorporate.

Let me ask you this question: Do you want more or less email in 2017?

If you answered "less" (as I did), then it is on us to start the process. If we send better emails and follow these rules, we'll see fewer emails.

I can't remember who said the following, but it is true.

One bad email creates another 20.

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