E-mail is one of the most powerful and widely used communication tools around
today. Every day we log onto our computers at work and most of us will go straight
to Outlook to check what new mail we have received. It provides a quick, easy way
of communicating not only with other people in our organisation but people all over
the world. There are huge benefits to business in having the ability to quickly
and easily transfer information as well as being able to set up meetings more efficiently.
It is however, essential that we understand the best ways in which to manage this
information.
Email Generation Rules
Before you send someone an email there is one simple question you should ask
yourself:
Do you need a response from the recipients urgently?
If the answer to this question is YES, then you should be trying to contact them
by telephone, pager or in person. For example if you wanted someone to attend a
meeting in 30 minutes time there is no guarantee that they will read their incoming
messages in that time and may therefore miss the meeting. However, if the answer
is NO, then email could then be used as an option.
Once you have decided that email is the best option for relaying the necessary
information you should follow these guidelines:
High Priority Messages:A message sent as "high priority" requires action by the
end of the following day. Time Specific Messages: Any message that is time specific
must be expired after the relevant date. We will look at how to set expiration dates/times
later is this section. Routine Message Categories: All routine messages will be
categorized and either filtered to Personal Folders or, where appropriate, removed
from email to a bulletin board.
Follow Up Required:If a message requires reading or follow up the recipient must
be in the To: field of the message. Information Only:If you put someone into the
Cc: field of a message you should not be expecting the recipient to read or action
it. You have sent it for their information only. Message Content:Keep your message
brief, only use attachments if the data volume is significant and use the heading
and the first 2 lines of your message to express both the content and the expected
action you are requesting
Email Processing
Most of you will open Outlook when at the start of the day and leave it open
until you shutdown your computer at the end of the day. To work more effectively
with your e-mail program we suggest that you following these simple guidelines wherever
possible:
· Only check your Inbox 3 times a day - morning, after lunch and prior to going
home. · Your Inbox should be empty when you close out of Outlook at the end of each
day. · Filter your emails. We will look at how to do this later in this section.
· Use Tasks and Schedule instead of e-mail messages
When a message arrives in your Inbox, after you have read it, you should do one
of the following things:
· Delete it · Schedule it · Delegate it to someone else · File it ie personal
folders or in the case of attachments, on your hard drive · Reply
