Tips to help you manage your e-mails

Another email!

"I received an email" is a phrase I could have said a lot of times when I was working in Civil Aviation. My daily varied in reception from 300 to 400 professional mails with spikes to 600-700 mails.

You imagine that it is then necessary to organize so as not to be overwhelmed by this tool. Imagine that you spend a minute on average by mail, for 300 mails, you will devote 300 minutes, or 5 hours! But when will you have time to work?

"Spikes to 600-700 mails"

Return of Experience

My Experience Feedback (REX) may lead you to have another look at this tool.

I had a time when e-mail did not exist. Its arrival has irrevocably changed behaviour in professional and private settings.

The mall can become a catalyst for conflicts, jealousy and rancour. It is essential in this type of written communication to ask how your message will be read and understood. You or your recipients will not have your expressions or intonation to help decoding the information.

We have different perceptions. An example to illustrate this. You have a problem on your car, you go to your favourite garage and say, "I hear a noise" he opens the bonnet and answers "I do not see anything". You probably have other examples that come to mind.

"A catalyst of conflicts"

Let's start with what I consider the basics of e-mail.

First of all to whom will you send your mail. In a post mail, you write to one person, here you have the choice, so try not to make bad choices!

Recipient (s):

Often preceded by "for" or "to" following your mail.

This is about identifying to whom you are addressing your message to. In principle you expect a reply from this person (this is the equivalent of the post address). You can choose multiple recipients because the content of the mail is addressed to them. Attention the e-mail addresses of the recipients are visible to everyone. So recipient # 1 will know that you have also sent this mail to # 2 and vice versa. All addresses are visible.

Does order matter? From a messaging point of view, from a point of view precedence, some may be offended to be at the end of the list.

Copy Recipients

Often preceded by "Cc".

When you choose one (or more) copy recipients, you only want to inform them, copy them from the contents of the mail. The addresses will be visible to the recipients and to the recipients in copy. This also means that when you receive an e-mail and you are in a copy, the author of the mail does not expect a response from you! It is just information. A little trick, add yourself to the recipients in copy, so you will have a way to know that your mail has been distributed (i.e. arrive in the inbox but not yet opened or read).

Recipient (s) in hidden copy

Often preceded by "Bcc".

To be used with caution in a professional setting under pain of great disillusionment. Hidden recipients will be able to see primary recipients and recipients in duplicate, but main recipients and recipients in duplicate will not see recipients in hidden copy (if it is hidden it is not for nothing). Beware of the colleague you have put in hidden copy of a controversial subject and who to walk on you, will be able to use it (by transferring it for example). In this professional setting, I strongly recommend not to use the hidden copy, it is a time bomb. It is a very small way to defeat a colleague or a superior.

"The confidentiality of each address will be respected"

On the other hand, this function is useful when you want to transfer or write information to a group of people. If you use "for" or "cc" all recipients will see the e-mail addresses of other recipients and some will probably complain about this lack of confidentiality. It is not because you have access to my mail that I want you to broadcast it. So to write to a group use the hidden copy (Bcc), the confidentiality of each address will be respected.

Be bold

I will end this session with a trick that you will not have the audacity to use.

You come back to work and opening your mail, you have 300 mails not read (sometimes more). My trick to start again well is very simple you select them all and you delete them The reasons are simple. In your absence, many of the messages will have been answered so you do not need to read them, you will know the answer in one way or another. Either an answer is still waiting and the author of the mail will certainly ask you as soon as he is aware that you have returned. Besides if it's really important, he should call you or come to see you (we'll talk about it).

So ready to use this trick that will win you for 300 mails (and only 1 minute per email) 5 hours of work?

Translated by Carrie