

How to Revise an Email So That People Will Read It - dreamz
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/silverman/2009/04/how-to-revise-an-email-so-that.html?cm_mmc=npv-_-WEEKLY_HOTLIST-_-APR_2009-_-HOTLIST0417

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thorax
If I have multiple points to describe on an important topic, I typically make
an outline, and bold a 1-3 word summary for each bullet. As corporate-monkey
as that is, it makes it very easy to skim without letting my managers overlook
pieces I feel are important.

If they're only going to spend 20 seconds glancing at the response, I want it
to be a breadth-first scan of the bolded items rather than a depth-first scan
of the first paragraph.

For what it's worth, every management team I've worked under in the past
decade of software development has loved it. I feel "uncool" for typing this
here, but maybe it'll help someone to try the same approach (in addition to
the great revising steps listed in the article).

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derefr
Have you tried eliminating the body of the message, and just sending the
bullet-points? If the reader appreciates it because they're not going to read
the rest of the message, why _give them_ the rest of the message?

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thorax
Good point. The terse details are there for two reasons:

* _Stakeholders need specifics_ \-- While some managers just need to skim, some peers and deeper stakeholders on the thread require details to validate the points because it impacts them specifically.

* _Managers want access to details_ \-- The manager wants to be able to skim, but also have details on a specific item if they choose to dive into it (now or later). It's hard to tell which ones these will be, so providing extra information after the heading allows them to pick and choose without obstructing their quick-skim-ability.

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ALee
I would recommend Strunk and White's Elements of Style to help. This post was
essentially that with a little hastiness for the reader built in. -A

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tokenadult
Search YC

<http://searchyc.com/How+to+Revise+an+Email>

is your friend for finding duplicate submissions:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=562447>

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muhamm
If this is a duplicate, it's one that a lot of people could benefit from.

Summary:

1\. Delete redundancies. 2\. Use numbers and specifics instead of adverbs and
adjectives. 3\. Add missing context. 4\. Focus on the strongest argument. 5\.
Delete off-topic material. 6\. Seek out equivocation and remove it. 7\. Kill
your favorites. 8\. Delete anything written in the heat of emotion. 9\.
Shorten. 10\. Give it a day.

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mark_h
Summarising even further... note that most of those involve "delete"!

At least, that's what I usually end up doing. The more concise it is, the
easier it is to absorb. It's quite sobering how long it can take to get
something that concise though.

