Hot Mommas rely on technology a great deal to do the proverbial “all” both personally and professionally. However, technology also blurs the lines between work, home, and an impending visit to the mental institution. As we become enveloped by the age of social media, manners and productivity can go out the window. A cadre of experts are surfacing to help. Below are some useful links, as well as key takeaways, for email etiquette and productivity.
***Email etiquette.***
Ever feel too busy to be thoughtful? Maybe it’s partially due to the Anna Karenina-length emails you’re getting. This topic is also interesting on a personal level as my mom would literally quiz me on items from Emily Post while growing up. (Did you know Emily Post can actually now tell us how to stop dragging our knuckles in the workplace? It’s true! Check out their business etiquette book.)
#1 Email etiquette link and takeaways :
A good takeaway from this article is to acknowledge the receipt of emails, be careful with “reply all,” and get permission prior to sending big attachments. I LOVE the “clean up forwarded emails” tip, in particular.
#2 Email etiquette link and takeaways
Chris Brogan’s points of allowing 48 hours for a reply and not re-emailing/texting someone saying “Did you get my email?” Are well-taken. He also comments on blog and twitter etiquette.
And KEEP IT SHORT people.
***Email productivity***
In a talk I gave recently to folks interested in high-productivity/high-balance female employees, employers were encouraged to leverage various and free services to help give their employees (and themselves) back one hour each day (see # 5 at this link for notes). What if we could just give OURSELVES back that hour with no middleman? It’s not rocket science. Everyone wants more time.
#3. Email productivity link and key takeaways
The argument in this article to process all email once per day is a compelling one. Tim Ferriss also has some email tips along these lines in his book The Four Hour Work Week (see our bookclub selection on this), and uses auto-responders to basically let people know, “Hey, I’m not going to be replying to you immediately.”
#4. Email productivity link and key takeaways
This is by Stever Robbins. The tip to give short answers and delay responses does walk that fine etiquette line, but it does save time. I love the story of the CEO who charges her staff $5 for each email which drastically impacted the inbox. Triaging emails by writing down names and required actions is another good one.
What are your best email organization tips and/or etiquette pet peeves? I think mine may be tied between emails with massive number of photos (vs loading them up to shutterfly and sending a link) and messy forwards (mentioned above).