I think it's a bit too formal for most work environments. People would get the wrong idea about being dispassionate or uncaring if you were to structure your emails in this fashion. The general...
I think it's a bit too formal for most work environments. People would get the wrong idea about being dispassionate or uncaring if you were to structure your emails in this fashion.
The general concepts, however, I think work well regardless of how it's worded. Putting " - action needed" at the end of a subject line, or starting the email with "please sign off on the following" or whatever action is required can be extremely effective tools without significantly reducing the personal touch of an email.
I say this as someone who works in an environment where politics is of utmost importance because we work with world renown individuals who sometimes have both an inflated and fragile ego. There are also people who are very ambitious who will seek any opportunity to throw others under the bus in order to further themselves and so there's an air of "false civility."
For example, I once got in trouble because after numerous attempts to get people to sign off on a task I mentioned that only 2 individuals in the email chain (without naming them) have signed off and that the deadline was upcoming and their signature was necessary for completion on time. That was enough for at least one of the individuals who had not signed off yet to complain that they were being singled out or accused of not doing their work and I was chastised for it and told I should escalate to management next time and leave out comments like that.
Funny how the tech version of the BLUF has become the “tl;dr”, which is often also put up front. Beyond that I think that this very economical format could be off putting to folks not expecting...
Funny how the tech version of the BLUF has become the “tl;dr”, which is often also put up front.
Beyond that I think that this very economical format could be off putting to folks not expecting it. I imagine there’s a way to take the lessons but still remain warm.
I think it's a bit too formal for most work environments. People would get the wrong idea about being dispassionate or uncaring if you were to structure your emails in this fashion.
The general concepts, however, I think work well regardless of how it's worded. Putting " - action needed" at the end of a subject line, or starting the email with "please sign off on the following" or whatever action is required can be extremely effective tools without significantly reducing the personal touch of an email.
I say this as someone who works in an environment where politics is of utmost importance because we work with world renown individuals who sometimes have both an inflated and fragile ego. There are also people who are very ambitious who will seek any opportunity to throw others under the bus in order to further themselves and so there's an air of "false civility."
For example, I once got in trouble because after numerous attempts to get people to sign off on a task I mentioned that only 2 individuals in the email chain (without naming them) have signed off and that the deadline was upcoming and their signature was necessary for completion on time. That was enough for at least one of the individuals who had not signed off yet to complain that they were being singled out or accused of not doing their work and I was chastised for it and told I should escalate to management next time and leave out comments like that.
Funny how the tech version of the BLUF has become the “tl;dr”, which is often also put up front.
Beyond that I think that this very economical format could be off putting to folks not expecting it. I imagine there’s a way to take the lessons but still remain warm.