Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Mastering the Short Email
Stepcase Lifehack: "Good writers know that lean, vibrant language is almost always preferable to verbose, rambling writing. There is virtually no writing in the world so good that it can’t be made better by making it shorter. There are exceptions, of course – a contract needs to cover every possible potentiality, as does the text of an international treaty, but these documents are not really meant to be read, they’re meant to be enacted."
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4 comments:
I think that most formal emails that people write already fall under the 5 sentences or less rule- more than that just feels awkward. However, sometimes an email to a friend isn't really meant to be dealt with, it's meant to be read, and this email policy discounts any chance of using email as a method of keeping in touch with people beyond "hey mom, I need more money, thanks, bye".
I find that those who write lengthier e-mails tend to fall under a different generation. I think it's interesting that the article points out the relationship in writing a lengthy paper and writing an e-mail, and also SMS messaging and e-mail but I think the processes are very different. In my world, SMS messaging is for extremely short messages and usually more instant because of it's tie directly to a phone. A long paper is something for a mailbox and an e-mail is something in between the two.
I agree with the first poster that this does not apply to e-mails with friends. However, I don't think it was meant to. You can write whatever you want to your friends, but when you're writing for business, you need that information to be read, not ignored. I know that I tend to skim long e-mails, and that I am much more likely to get the info I need out of a shorter one. Being concise and precise in your communications is a valuable business skill to have.
I agree with this five sentences or less rule. i find myself bogged down with email sometimes for a good 15 to 20 minutes before I even start the rest of my work on the computer. There are a lot of unnecessary things that people write which adds up, especially when your really pressed for time.
P.S. even though he apologized, the article was a bit too long for having been about writing things short
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