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I started to follow this approach [1] 6 month ago and it is amazing how much clearer my own thoughts in communication have become. 1. Subjects with keywords. T
by splittingTimes 9y ago
I started to follow this approach [1] 6 month ago and it is amazing how much clearer my own thoughts in communication have become.
1. Subjects with keywords. The subject clearly states the purpose of the email, and specifically, what you want them to do with your note.
Keywords: ACTION, SIGN, INFO, DECISION, REQUEST, COORD
2. Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF). Lead your emails with a short, staccato statement that declares the purpose of the email and action required. The BLUF should quickly answer the five W’s: who, what, where, when, and why. An effective BLUF distills the most important information for the reader.
3. Be economical. Short emails are more effective than long ones, so try to fit all content in one pane, so the recipient doesn’t have to scroll. use active voice, so it’s clear who is doing the action. If an email requires more explanation, you should list background information after the BLUF as bullet points so that recipients can quickly grasp your message. Link to attachments rather than attaching files. This will likely provide the most recent version of a file. Also, the site will verify that the recipient has the right security credentials to see the file, and you don’t inadvertently send a file to someone who isn’t permitted to view it.
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[1] https://hbr.org/2016/11/how-to-write-email-with-military-precision https://hbr.org/2016/11/how-to-write-email-with-military-pre...
- bshimmin 9y agoso try to fit all content in one pane, so the recipient doesn’t have to scroll Oh no, have we introduced "the fold" into emails too, after a decade of forlornly trying to persuade people it doesn't exist on the web?
- pc86 9y agoIf you look at heatmaps of user interaction with webpages, it absolutely does exist.
- TallGuyShort 9y agoWell it sounds like it does exist, in the sense that the whole article and the parent comment's experience suggest brevity has been working for them to maintain attention. Unless you mean trying to pack as much in as possible without exceeding an arbitrary measurement of where the fold is, as opposed to just being very brief and to the point? If so, that does seem to defeat the point and would be inconsistent.
- hota_mazi 9y agoThe fold has existed in emails ever since people started top posting (I happen to think top posting is very often the best way to optimize your time spent in email).
- rene_bg 9y agoI especially like the Medium-like sites that force you to scroll over 50 cm of a huge image before some content appears...
- laumars 9y agoEmails always used to be written like memos though. There was even an etiquette that signatures shouldn't be more than 3 lines long.
- elliotec 9y agoI mean, it does exist, both on the web and in emails. And newspapers too!
- dllthomas 9y ago> use active voice, so it’s clear who is doing the action. Using the active voice is neither necessary nor sufficient for clarity as to "who is doing the action". Just make sure it is in fact clear, and write as understandably as you're able. It's true that sometimes people use the passive voice inappropriately, but that's no reason to mangle your writing to avoid it.
- splittingTimes 9y agoOf course these are just guidelines and you can make the passive voice work. However, I found the example given in the article pretty convincing: > Instead of “The factory was bombed by an F18,” military professionals would say, “An F18 bombed the factory.” That also rings true with (5) of George Orwells advice on good english writing [1] (1) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. (2) Never use a long word where a short one will do. (3) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. (4) Never use the passive where you can use the active. (5) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. (6) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous. === [1] George Orwell - Politics and the English Language http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit/ http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit...
- dllthomas 9y agoYou're free to have your preference, but as pertains to clarity of agency neither of those is any better than the other. In fact as agency goes, it was not bombed "by an F18", it was bombed by a person using an F18, probably on orders (or by mistake when attempting to follow different orders) given by other people. I've certainly enjoyed Orwell's writing, but his recommendations mostly aren't very well thought out (and he doesn't follow them very closely himself, or probably his writing would be worse). See also: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=992 http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=992
- egfx 9y agoBLUF. This works for forums too. Doing so in my digital point forums marketing push. https://forums.digitalpoint.com/threads/add-2fb-me-before-the-url-to-share-it-on-facebook.2826610/ https://forums.digitalpoint.com/threads/add-2fb-me-before-th...
- MichaelMoser123 9y agoThat's very good advise. I wonder if the armed forces of other countries have the same emailing guidelines
- MichaelMoser123 9y agoBLUF is common to US military communication, so it probably preceded email https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLUF_(communication) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLUF_(communication) actually other countries also have similar regulations that are supposed to favor a compact style of official correspondence Verwaltungssprache in German https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verwaltungssprache https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verwaltungssprache Официально-деловой стиль in Russian https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D1%84%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%BE-%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D1%84%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B8...