Download - Email productivity 101
Email ProductivityErnie Svenson & Dane Ciolino
Who are these guys?
Ernie SvensonBigLaw - 20 yrs
Solo Practice - 5 yrs
ErnieTheAttorney.net
PDFforLawyers.com
PaperlessChase.com
Digital Signatures are easy to make
Alvin Christovich, Distinguished Professor of Law, Loyola Univ.
LaLegalEthics.org
Dane Ciolino
Agenda
Processing email
Not Outlook specific (for the most part)
What’s possible?
Best practices
How to efficiently manage information
minimize “information overload”
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Email OverloadThe average corporate executive gets between 50 and 100 emails every day...
Not built for mass communication
“Email bankruptcy”
Unified messaging increases load
Email challenges
Processing emails
Delete
Defer
Suspend for later
Delegate
Act
Review
GTD system: inbox process
Delete liberally (it’s fun; try it!)
Flag important stuff
No responses now
Only exception: critical email
Acknowledge receipt: say you’ll respond later
First Run
Batch processing
Process once or twice a dayOnly check few times a day
67%of emails are never printed out (which means 33% of people do print out their emails)
Friendsdon’t let friends print out emails
Incoming emails
Filtering is key(& the cure to “information overload”)
A few are okay; too many are bad
Outook folders have definite limits
The “inbox” is a folder; not built to handle the volume that many people impose on it.
Will crash Outlook, or corrupt files
Folders (manual filtering)
filter inbound & outbound
based on sender, recipient, or subject line
“Unread emails” is a smart folder
“Flagged folder” is smart folder
Smart folders (auto filtering/rules)
Outgoing emails
Readability is Job #1
What action do you want reader to take?
Who really needs to be notified
Do you need to change the subject line?
Topic shifts happen; adjust subject line
Is this really a calendar appt?
Before composing ask:
Response type
Email (obvious, but not always optimal)
Phone call
best for hashing out indefinite stuff
if you’re driving
if last minute change (can’t assume people read email as it comes in)
Don’t respond right away (usually)
Quick responses = fast paced ping pong matches
Acknowledge receipt & promise reply soon
Upon receipt of email
Composing emails
Writing that works
Kenneth RomanJoel Raphaelson
Brevity, simplicity
No more than 6 sentences (ideally)
Use short, common words
Use short sentences
Get to the point quickly!
Body of email
Inline quoting is optimal
Avoid “Reply All”
Before hitting “Reply All” make sure you weren’t bcc’d
Be careful with autocomplete
Proofread carefully to see if you any words out
Replying effectively
leftv
Avoid using “Reply All”
Specify who email is really for (if sent to more than just those who need to take action)
Use of blind copy (bcc) for large email sets (& send to yourself)
Addressing
Subject line(the most powerful tool for clarity)
Study Wall St. Journal headlines: learn to craft enticing subject lines
Consider putting message in subject line for short messages
Send separate emails for separate topics
If need long email, then use headings
Make clear & compelling
Attention-getting examples
Re: your AT&T International Roaming Charges
Re: what seems to have once been your car
To my former sexual partners, as required by law
Write "thanks," or "cheers" or "best wishes" & then your name
Make use of signatures (you can have more than one)
Always give your phone number
Don’t need your email address there
No graphic signatures
Ending emails
& the David Sparks solutionMissing attachments
Attach the file first
Next, fill in the body text
Create a succinct subject line
Last, address the email (thus avoiding sending without attaching file)
Work backwards
Services that specialize
You Send It
SugarSync, or Dropbox
Adobe SendNow (Outlook Plug-in available)
Sending large files
(avoid them; they’re out of style)Out of office msgs
Spam(a really hard problem to solve)
“Social engineering”
Never click on links from banks or password-protected sites
Navigate to site yourself
Scammers getting more sophisticated
Password managers help (e.g. 1Password, or LastPass)
Phishing scams
Summary
Develop a good process; make it a habit
Strong subject lines (change if needed)
Separate emails for each topic
Learn & use shortcuts
Be careful with bcc, and auto-complete
Don’t use inbox as a warehouse
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