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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 in personal folders or in the case of attachments, on your hard
drive
- Reply
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