Communicating Email Efficency

Always use caution with email. Even an innocent signature line communicating the fastest way to reach you can be misconstrued.

I read Tim Ferris’s book a few months ago. Many different ideas on how to be more effective using less time. I tested out the idea of batching email and only checking it twice per day. Checking email at only 12:00 and 4:00 and batch processing saves at least 30 minutes per day. Successful experiment!

I had a simple addition to my signature line to explain this.

Due to increased workload I’m checking email twice per day at 12:00 and 4:00. Please call me on my cell at 555.555.55555 if you need to reach me sooner.

I got a bit of helpful feedback from another manager a few days ago. The suggestion was to maybe reword the signature line as some people might have construed it in a negative light. Email is dangerous that way, lack of context can lead people to the wrong conclusions.

The email explanation signature is gone now. The real gift was another manager comfortable enough to give feedback.