alt Hacker NewsAll emails should be 2 lines only, is something I learned when I started working in an office. For example,
WHAT YOU ARE SAYING
WHAT YOU NEED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE (RESPONSE OR DECISION OR ACTION ETC)
As time goes on, often I say (to myself) "forget that", and write all the detail that is needed anyway, even in email. But only for audiences that may care about the detail (or otherwise are safe to skip the email altogether).
But who uses email at work anymore, anyway, right? I guess some organizations.
Replies
> My boss taught me this.
And it shows. If you are not the boss, you can't just write something and expect the recipient to figure it out.
I prefer adding the detail; if it's going to turn into a phone call anyway I might as well have a script ready to go.
Most orgs still rely heavily on email, and most emails should be more than two lines to be useful. If it's only two lines, Slack it.
> Do YOU (want to or have time to) read someone else's long emails?
Always - as long as it makes proper use of paragraphs and doesn't have too many spelling/grammatical errors.
If I ever have to respond to an email asking clarification questions because they wanted to write a concise email, then my time is being wasted.