Commmentary: A few thoughts and a few suggestions about e-mail

After my column last week about budget and revenue shortfalls in our county and this week's confirmation from Nicola Sapp, county finance director, of an $8.3 million shortfall, things got a bit draining. I am betting we will see services in our community cut.

I need to lighten up a bit, no more doom and gloom. At least for this week.

You all have e-mails you open quickly and read right away, like the ones from your boss. At least, I like to think the staff here at the CSBJ reads my e-mails quickly ... but then, maybe not, as I come to think about it.

You also have the dreaded e-mails that just sit. The droning on ones, the e-mail from the person that always has the red flag, high priority alert -- yeah, like that is going to make me read it faster. It might be high priority for someone, just not me.

In the grind of the publishing world, that red flag doesn't mean much ... unless of course you are my boss. Then, yep, right on it sir.

How about the emoticons and other elaborate formatting, or sometimes worse, the lack of formatting that when you respond to the e-mail you have to write in some obscure font. And then wait for that emoticon to download. And when it finally does download you have some bubbly yellow smiley face. Yeah, that was worth the wait.

How about the lack of information in the subject line? Or worse, no subject line so you have to read the e-mail to know what it is about ... don't try that trick at home, paid professionals only please. We are quite busy in the increasingly fast-paced world and I need to know subjects of e-mails before knowing how to respond ... unless it has that red flag, high-priority alert sent from a PR firm representing a nonprofit fund raiser. Right on that, ma'am.

Be clear and concise in your subject line, you might get my attention.

How about people that reply to all, every time. Every once in awhile, I can see a reply-to-all as being needed, maybe if you are a key organizer of a meeting and you want everyone on the list to know you will be in attendance ... and that you being there, might increase attendance at the meeting.

How about the "request deliver and read receipts"? What are you thinking? I can click do not send and you will never know if I looked at the e-mail or not. Seems like many of our military brethren like to use this function of e-mail. I have yet to figure out why.

The e-mailed available meeting times is intriguing. Ever have to see 12 people's full week's schedules four times before getting a conference call or meeting set? Use the calendar function in Outlook. People can then accept or decline and the meeting organizer can manage the time more efficiently.

My biggest pet peeve though has to be e-mailing someone in your office when you can walk down the hall, or even worse, stand up and look over the cubicle wall to communicate something.

So, don't sit in your office and send off e-mails when you can go out and communicate in the old fashioned way. Face to face. And if you have to send me an e-mail wanting something, at least let me know you read my newspaper.

How about an e-holiday in the office where there is no e-mail sent for a day? It wouldn't work in the publishing business. No work would get done.

Lon Matejczyk is publisher of the Colorado Springs Business Journal.

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