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Derek Bok, president of Harvard
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Economists
Ask five economists and you’ll get five different explanations (six if one went to Harvard).
Edgar R. Fiedler
Email revising
In this times of busy then ever people and communication pushed to the limits, is easy to forget that email communication is, well the name says, a form of communication.
Email has in common with voice immediateness and velocity of delivery, but differs a lot in expressing a mood, a sense of concept or expressing something. These last are delegated and imposed by the ability and accuracy of the writer.
I was reading an article from David Silverman at Harvard Business (full article here), where are given some useful rules for revising emails in order to focus and maintain people attention.
David says that “[...] I’ve found that for your average email, the number of revisions largely depends on the number of recipients. Here’s my experience:
- 1 to 5 recipients = 2 to 4 revisions
- 5 to 10 recipients = 8 to 12 revisions
- Company-wide or to Executive Committee = 30 to 50 revisions
[...]“
I agree on the numbers and much more on the concept underlying: a mail requires clearness, revisions and enough attention before sending.
What follows are David comments with my suggestions:
1. Delete redundancies. And prefer direct and simple sentences. Remember that differently from verbal communication, email do not allow you more explanation than what you wrote.
2. Use numbers and specifics instead of adverbs and adjectives. Same as above: quantity, being specific and simplicity are the key factors
3. Add missing context. And be concise, avoiding to give a business plan as introduction, but focus on key context elements
4. Focus on the strongest argument. And possibly put other arguments in priority, so that the reader knows what and why is reading what you’re writing
5. Delete off-topic material. Really agree on this. Is better to write 10 mail with different topics (and that maybe need differently timed responses) than a general one or one condensing 10 themes
6. Seek out equivocation and remove it. You won’t be able to hope that reader forgets the previous concept and will override it with your fresh one.
7. Kill your favorites. True.
8. Delete anything written in the heat of emotion. Email will remain and emotion is not a wise counselor.
9. Shorten. and then shorten again
10. Give it a day. or defer sending if not in a hurry
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