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People only read the first line of an email. I am so careful to keep it short and easy to understand. But very often, nothing works, they won't read past the first line.
I also have found that people don't listen either. The don't pay attention, and don't hear or remember what you say.
Maybe they are so used to texting on phones, that's the only thing they pay attention to?
Emails are reminders to me, talk to me face to face for important things
I'm just the opposite. I like to put everything in writing. So later when someone says they didn't know or I never told them, I can just pull up the email.
I interact frequently with high level executives. If you can't make your point in the first sentence, the email is useless.
I apply this to my communication with people above, below, and at equal footing with me. One, mayyyybe two sentences tops for the primary takeaway, then a paragraph break, then a paragraph or two full of background/additional info that I assume nobody reads unless they are really interested in it.
From the way OP describes the facts, I'm not entirely clear on what OP wanted to tell the coworkers. Are you saying that all you're going to do on the project is print? If so, why do they need you at all? If the due date is Wednesday and you are planning to print on Tuesday afternoon, it doesn't seem like you provide any value over what a secretary could provide. Perhaps that's why you received the response you did- the recipient was probably thinking "so you're not going to be involved at all?"
It's clear that there is a miscommunication between the two parties, and usually when there is a miscommunication, it's the author of the email who is at fault, not the recipient. Don't just assume that everyone in the world is an idiot aside from you- I can't stand interacting with people who hold this world view when I'm at the office. If you find yourself frequently running in to the same problem, then the common factor is you.
Nope. I find myself running into this problem with the same person. She actually responded and said, sorry, she didn't read the whole email because she is so stressed.
The subject of the email was "Schedule" and the first paragraph was:
I am working at <Company name> tomorrow, and I he expects me in on Monday. On Tuesday, I have to go to <Work Event> event in Queens in the morning. I am driving in. I will then drive to Brooklyn for the afternoon so we can get this out.
I really don't think that was too muddy to be understood.
You aren't clear because you don't know the rest of the story of what we are doing or how this company operates.
We are preparing a proposal for an engineering contract. It requires several sections of narrative, which I write. It requires procuring subcontractors, which I do. It requires putting a cost proposal together, which the "CFO" does. It requires providing resumes and a spreadsheet showing the proposed staff and their qualifications, which HR is supposed to do.
In the end, all these components have to be assembled and sent to the local printer that they use and then multiple copies of the printed product is put together by the CFO and me by inserting the appropriate tabs at the printer and handed back to the printer to be spiral bound.
There are no secretaries. Well, there is one who primarily keeps the owner's calendar. Before that, she was the babysitter for his kids.
There is no one telling HR that there is a deadline that they must adhere to.
There is no one telling the owner of the company to please talk to HR and tell them they have to make this a priority. No one will. He is a man and there is a cultural issue. The women from his community who work there are not going say, ask, or mention anything that might be viewed as a criticism, a correction, or a suggestion.
The upshot is that if I am not there to help the CFO assemble and finalize the proposal so it gets where it has to go by the deadline, she has no one else to help her.
I could just say "You're on your own." Yes, that is an option. However, I honor my commitments, and I said I would work around the new job to see this through.
Last edited by Mightyqueen801; 06-08-2017 at 12:56 PM..
I'm just the opposite. I like to put everything in writing. So later when someone says they didn't know or I never told them, I can just pull up the email.
I am that same way, or at least I was in my previous life when I worked in the real world! I cannot count the times I had to go back and find an email to demonstrate that I did something.
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I think most people can come up with complaints about email practices. For me, it's the one where I am copied, then someone asks if I did something that was mentioned in it. If you need me to do something address the email to me, and ask specifically for me to do it. When I am the cc I consider it informational and just glance at it briefly.
The proposal we are working on is due on Wednesday. I just told her that I have to work at the other job on Friday, Monday, and attend an event on Tuesday morning, but I will be there on Tuesday afternoon to print and assemble the package. Will work over the weekend finishing up the text if I have to. She has to get after other people at her workplace, like HR, to provide missing information, like resumes, that I cannot do.
The response is, "So you won't be in before it's due?"
Take out why you can't be there til Tuesday, just say when you will be there.
I will be there on Tuesday afternoon to print and assemble the package.
I think most people can come up with complaints about email practices. For me, it's the one where I am copied, then someone asks if I did something that was mentioned in it. If you need me to do something address the email to me, and ask specifically for me to do it. When I am the cc I consider it informational and just glance at it briefly.
Yes, some people will say, "By copy of this email..." but that doesn't always fly, because, as you point out, you aren't going to give an email with your name on a cc the same attention as when you're the "To".
I guess in answer to my own question, sometimes there are just too damn many emails.
That's when I reply with the same text, bolded and underlined.
I have to work at the other job on Friday, Monday, and attend an event on Tuesday morning, but I will be there on Tuesday afternoon to print and assemble the package.
I interact frequently with high level executives. If you can't make your point in the first sentence, the email is useless.
I apply this to my communication with people above, below, and at equal footing with me. One, mayyyybe two sentences tops for the primary takeaway, then a paragraph break, then a paragraph or two full of background/additional info that I assume nobody reads unless they are really interested in it.
From the way OP describes the facts, I'm not entirely clear on what OP wanted to tell the coworkers. Are you saying that all you're going to do on the project is print? If so, why do they need you at all? If the due date is Wednesday and you are planning to print on Tuesday afternoon, it doesn't seem like you provide any value over what a secretary could provide. Perhaps that's why you received the response you did- the recipient was probably thinking "so you're not going to be involved at all?"
It's clear that there is a miscommunication between the two parties, and usually when there is a miscommunication, it's the author of the email who is at fault, not the recipient. Don't just assume that everyone in the world is an idiot aside from you- I can't stand interacting with people who hold this world view when I'm at the office. If you find yourself frequently running in to the same problem, then the common factor is you.
This. Nobody is trying to read a wall of text.
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