Control What You Get — Let people know what kinds of mail you want...and what you don't,
	Change Practices — Institute a few policies and practices that will help everybody use eMail better, and
	Demonstrate Good Practice — Take responsibility for your own eMail practices, because your reputation is on the line.

To: <Original Sender...> Subject: TBNT: Today's News... Body: "TBNT" means "Thanks, but no thanks." Please take my eMail address off your mailing list, I don't read these messages and they're not useful to me. Thank you,

Use the Subject Line for Replies — If someone's asking you for permission, just type "Yes:" or "No:" on the front of the Subject line in a reply: Subject: OK: Travel to Atlanta... You can avoid forwarding the entire original message, too. There's no need sending stuff the author has already read... because they wrote it. Use To:, cc:, and bcc: Appropriately — An addressee on the To: line is someone you expect to take action; if you don't want them to do anything, address them on another line. Reserve To: for "Action". If you just want someone to know what you're doing, use the cc: line. Reserve cc: for "FYI". If you just have to mail to someone a copy, but they fit in neither the "Action" for "FYI" category, put their address in the bcc: line. Reserve bcc:for "CYA." Avoid "Group Lists" — If you have one group named "Team" that lists everybody...you may be part of the problem. Avoid using an entire list of addresses in the bcc: field. Stop first, and think: Will everyone in this list need to read it? Do they have the time? Will you be eroding your professional capital by filling up eMail inboxes with stuff they don't want? Send it to the shorter list of people who'll really appreciate it. It takes a few more seconds of your time to be respectful of others. Use Attachments Sparingly — The person who sends an eMail (to 50 people!) consisting of nothing but a short Microsoft Word document that must be opened to discover it's unwanted earns the scorn they get. Even if you must send an attachment, summarize it in 100 words or so; then, the recipient can decide whether to open it or not. Show you're respectful of their time, then you can let them know you expect the same in return. Use The Right Tools For The Job — Is eMail the best way to communicate this information? If you need a fast response, maybe the phone would be a better medium. Are you using eMail because it's convenient, or have you considered the alternatives? And, some people prefer phone calls, others eMail; honor their wishes to obtain a better response.

Demonstrate Good Practice

From our client studies of eMail, we found people use two principal factors to decide whether to open an eMail or not: The sender's name, and subject line.

That should give you two specific things to do that will improve your eMail behavior and set a model for the rest of your correspondents:

1. Use the Subject line creatively: Keep it focused and meaningful; remember, the Subject line should motivate people to open and read your message. Be brief, descriptive, and to the point, but don't be an alarmist; that erodes your reputation.
   
2. Be careful what you send: The more useful your messages are to recipients, the more trust you'll inspire. You already know the people you've learned to ignore because they send you stuff you don't want...do you want the same reputation?
   

Story: Cutting eMail Infoglut

At Chevron, a field sales team got too much eMail. We asked, "What fraction of messages come from each other?" We were all surprised that 80% of eMail was from within the team, not from the rest of the corporation.

The root problem: The sales team used eMail to write and hone proposals. So, everyone was opening (and deleting) eMail about other people's projects. The division controller, responsible for checking final numbers, had to delete all early drafts that were nowhere near ready for review.

Because Chevron uses Microsoft Outlook client for eMail, the solution was simple: Outlook has a feature called Shared Folders. A new proposal gets created in a new Shared Folder named for the client and the due date of the proposal ("Baker FBO March 18"), and it's visible to anyone on the team.

Anyone who needs to collaborate on that proposal can go there and read it and even see the history of changes. Everybody else can note there is a project, and if they want to they can visit and read and participate. Discussions about the evolving document can be carried out adjacent to the document itself, without broadcasting eMail. A "master" document with all the accumulated changes is easier to maintain. Finally, old proposals become first drafts of future proposals, accessible by the entire team.

When some particular person's contribution is required, we can send them a timely, short eMail pointing them to the Shared Folder. The controller, for example, can go look at the final draft, and the earlier spreadsheets that went into the final numbers and all the other supporting information, only when it's nearly done.

People who had been getting 200 eMails a day now get 80. That simple adoption of the appropriate technology cut eMail volumes by 60%! Sometimes the solutions are more complex than that, but it is amazing to us how few people know very much about the eMail features already available to them in their existing software.