email – to send or not to send

Do you know that the typical office worker sends/receives 110 emails per day resulting in about 13 hours of emailing time per week? Add to that another hour per day the average worker spends searching for a lost email, and it’s easy to see why it’s a huge problem. Distractions are costly — but missing an important message that needs a prompt response? Even worse!

Someone once told me that I “have a tendency to be a bit wordy” — and, they were right! I do. While it might be best to keep email correspondence to 3 sentences, I know from experience that providing vague information only results in a bajillion follow-up emails… you know, the ask a question/give an answer dance that takes a ton more time.

So how do YOU tame the email beast at work? I’ve yet to find what works for me. I have to be ‘on it’ and responsive, so I can’t do as some suggest and check email 3 or 4 times a day. On the other hand, it’s a huge time sink that keeps me from being more productive in other aspects of the work I do. On a positive note, email ensures I have a paper trail, and it’s faster than playing phone tag. And that, leaves a little more time for this…