Improving Your Email

There is little that can be done from the technical or system perspective to encourage staff to create better emails. Any improvements in this regard are likely to be largely dependent on the same blend of procedures and user training referred to in the previous section.

Once again, the focus is on changing the behaviour of the sender to make life easier for the recipient and thus helping to initiate a virtuous circle of improved management. Poorly drafted emails described by unhelpful (or absent) titles and accompanied by indiscriminate use of message status indicators are not only annoying to receive but add considerably to the daily burden of trying to manage email. They also increase the risks of damage to the institution's reputation and legal interests through the amplified likelihood of mistakes caused by poor management and the transmission of inappropriate material.

Titles & Other Metadata

The only user generated metadata routinely added to an email is the subject heading or title. As such it is important that the user is made aware of the value of attaching good, clear and unambiguous titles to all their messages. Ideally the title should be clear enough for the recipient to know the basic content of the email and its context prior to opening the message. Particular attention should be paid when the content of a thread of messages changes over time and starts to have little or nothing in common with the original title. The default options within your email application should be checked to see whether it is possible to prevent messages being sent where the subject header has been left blank.

The use of message status indicators can be helpful to provide an immediate indication to the recipient of whether an email is urgent or of low importance. Users should be encouraged to use these sparingly (especially the 'Urgent' indicator) to preserve their impact. The default system configuration should make both buttons readily available from the application toolbar.

Content

Users should be encouraged to stick to one main subject within each email, rather than using one message to cover a wide range of topics. Otherwise not only does it become impossible to accurately express the nature of the content in the subject heading, but it is also difficult for the recipient to apply appropriate management controls to the email (into which folder should it be stored, how long should it be kept, etc).

Users should also be trained to avoid the growing tendency to use abbreviations and 'text message' language within emails. Such shorthand can easily cause confusion and mis-interpretation. Likewise users should be made aware of the benefits of using objective, conversational English and avoiding subjective comments or jokes which can be easily misconstrued.