The Cubicle Times

CUBICLE – Email is a very great tool to communicate to a group of people, and we use this tool daily at work nowadays to update project status, talk to coworkers in Asia, send documents to an off-site representative, and many many other reasons.  As we get used to Emailing people, some frustrating habits appear…

1. In-person > Phone > Email: sometimes when we’re trying to get some help from a coworker, we Email this person instead of walking over to his/her cubicle.  This colleague might be down the hall, but we’re just so lazy to deal with the talking we have to do, that we choose to Email.  Of course, calling would be nicer than Emailing because at least you can express your request with audio and words.  Maybe next time we should first consider in-person, and then calling, and having Email as the last resort.  You can always Email later to remind or provide details, but don’t let technology be the wall between people!

2.  CC: Sometimes we have to let some others know that we’re working on a project, that we CC a boss or another manager just to make sure they know.  It’s good when the task is important and we didn’t get a chance to talk to these managers in person (or phone), but when we copy these managers on some tiny little tasks, some problems could come up.  The managers might NOT read your Emails later on because it’s the “cry wolf” effect that they might ignore some really important updates if they’re really busy.  So do make sure you’re not abusing the “CC” function ~ Think about whether it’s really necessary to CC, or you can find a time later to talk to the manager personally, as suggested above.  And, be careful when you copy the recipient’s manager, too!

3. Casual Email Tone: Not all of us are good at writing or grammar, so sometimes we write as if we’re talking.  First we don’t address the recipient, then we write without capping letters or having commas! Do remember that Emails CAN be forwarded, and if the Email gets forwarded to a boss or even higher up, sometimes that really limits your chance to impress them with less professional “stuff” like…. uh.. “stuff”, “your funny”, “me and my coworker”, etc.. :P

4. CAP and/or red text: if you write in all caps, most of the time people will assume that it’s either really urgent or you’re really upset, so definitely watch out for that; sometimes all it takes is that “caps lock” key on your keyboard :) And if you try to emphasize things in a different color, don’t overdo it by highlighting too many places because it’s… just annoying.  It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use them, but we gotta really pick the right time and way to do it~

5. Recall: sigh… sometimes we make mistakes in the Email and want to “take our words back,” and we try to use the “recall” function.  It’s OK to use it, but sometimes it’s nice to do a reply-all and correct the previous Email with some humor.  ”I think I am working too hard that I just made a mistake…”, “It must be that burrito I ate during lunch that I …..”, “I can’t believe Friday came that early, that I …,” or something similar to hopefully erase some negative impact on the mistake in the first Email.  OK, here’s the disclaimer: please still watch who you’re writing to because no everyone likes humor especially when things are hot :P

Anyway, just a few things I learned over the years with Emails.  Next time pause for a few seconds before hitting that “send” button, and maybe that will determine whether you get promoted next or get sent to sit with George the Stinky Shirt Man :P