Ask HN: How to become more effective at email communication? - galby
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tixocloud
What do you mean exactly by more effective?

As much as we love email, it depends on the context and message you are trying
to get across. The medium is the message and when you need to get a response
or communicate urgency, you call or do F2F. Email is great for short
conversations and simple topics. Think about what you're sending and what
you'd like to get out of the email conversation.

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newman8r
My advice is to keep emails short and try to focus on as few different points
as possible - this will get you a much quicker response.

I tend to request confirmations a lot (i.e. "can you confirm x") to make sure
there's a shared understanding: just because you've written something in a
previous email doesn't mean the recipient actually read it.

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gvajravelu
There are a few principles that make email effective:

1\. Make sure email is the best way to communicate. Email is great when you or
the recipient need to reference the material later. Email is also good when
you don't need an urgent response. Otherwise, a phone call, text message, or
meeting in person might be better.

2\. Only ask one question/topic in an email. Multiple questions rarely work
well in an email. If you must ask more than one question, you should probably
send one email about the most important question and then follow up with a
second question once you get a reply. If you ask too many questions in one
email, the recipient may get overwhelmed and not respond.

3\. Have a clear call to action at the end of the email. It could be a final
question that asks for the recipient's opinion. If you have no need for a
reply, say "No reply needed." That will let the recipient know that you don't
expect a response.

I wrote more about how to write effective emails on my website with 2 sample
emails for common workplace situations:
[https://www.climbuptheladder.com/getting-the-most-out-of-
ema...](https://www.climbuptheladder.com/getting-the-most-out-of-emails-at-
work/)

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indescions_2018
Predictive scheduling. With clients I like to let them know when "office
hours" are open. So let's say you subdivide your day into blocks of time.
8-12am is set aside for actual uninterrupted work / coding. 12-2pm for lunch /
long walks in nature. Then you can reserve 2-4pm for communications. My
preference is actually for video chat. Delegating email to transfer design and
business docs via attachment.

Since 90% of that session tends to be putting out fires and lowering their
blood pressure around whatever panic they have worked themselves into that day
about the project not moving forward quickly enough for their liking. Having a
set time each day when you make yourself available is itself soothing and a
way to instil confidence into your process.

Of course it all flies out the window during a crunch anyway ;)

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jwassil
\- Keep them as short as possible.

\- If you're presenting options, label them with numbers/letters so people can
easily reference them in a reply.

\- Instead of leaving follow-up actions open-ended, specifically call out what
you're going to do, when you need a response by, etc.

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rahimnathwani
After you write each email, and before you hit 'send':

1\. Split any long sentences.

2\. Identify any list-like information (anything with multiple 'ands' or 'ors'
or commas) and turn those into bulleted or numbered lists.

3\. Summarise what you want the person to _do_ in a short sentences at the
beginning of the email.

4\. Go through the rest of the email and delete anything that the person isn't
going to need, in order to do the thing specified in (3).

5\. Now think about it from the reader's perspective. If they get this email
and read it from start to finish. What are they going to do in the next 15
seconds? After you empathise with them, you may want to add/remove some more
info.

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dlahoda
If you are programmer then try to think of email as code for brain quantum
networks and use automation tools. I have coded email about that here
[https://gitlab.com/dzmitry-lahoda/dzmitry-
lahoda.gitlab.io/b...](https://gitlab.com/dzmitry-lahoda/dzmitry-
lahoda.gitlab.io/blob/master/howto/How%20technical%20person%20can%20write%20good%20corporate%20email.md)

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hluska
1\. Find an editor you trust enough to give you very candid feedback. Work
with this person to figure out where you are right now and where you want to
be in the future. Ideally, you're looking for someone who will tell you what's
wrong without killing your spirit. Or as I often say, you're looking for
someone who is kind but picky.

2\. Practice.

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runjake
In the absence of elaboration on what you mean:

\- Be brief.

\- Use simple language.

\- If you're asking for things to be done, bullet item or number them and make
your request clear and flesh out the details up front. Provide them with the
information that will make their work easier.

\- Do not send needless emails and responses (such as "Thanks" replies).

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mrfusion
My rule is that you lose half your readers after each sentence. And the
subject line counts as a sentence!

Plan accordingly.

