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After 20 years of working I've learned: answer quickly (to the emails that you intend to reply to) even if the only thing you can say is "I have read this and w
by johansch 10y ago
After 20 years of working I've learned: answer quickly (to the emails that you intend to reply to) even if the only thing you can say is "I have read this and will get back to you".
I used to fuzz and wait until I had the ultimate, perfect reply.. usually like 12-48 hours later. Turns out that is the wrong approach - for the reasons outlined in this article.
> On the other end I commit to read every emails.
That was my defense too! I iterated it over and over to my team (my bosses would get preferential treatment...), but noone would believe me - unless I responded. People tend not to believe invisible things.
- johansch 10y agoActually, this would be a neat function in a mail client. Let's call it "Not now" - an action that: a) pre-composes a reply with a canned response (but lets you edit it) b) reminds you if you don't end up replying within some time (perhaps even parses that time out of what you ended up writing in that response)
- robotresearcher 10y agoThis is a good strategy, and even better if you tell them when to expect a proper reply (and then you stick to it). That really helps the sender make plans at their end, and thus reduce their stress.
- johansch 10y agoI also, perhaps a little surprising (but not really), found that it reduced my own stress as well.
- http-teapot 10y agoThat makes sense, I think acknowledging with a "thank you" could go a long way. Not a big fan of committing to get back to the subject since it'd just delay the inevitable and possibly pile up onto a huge pile of todos. I guess there are sometimes no way around it.