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Welcome!. Defeating the Email Dragon: How to Make Email Permanently Manageable. New York City Bar November 29, 2012 Bill Jawitz Doug Brown. About Us and You. Bill Doug You Size firm Years in practice Practice profile (i.e., primarily litigation or transactional). Your Views on Email.

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  1. Welcome! Defeating the Email Dragon: How to Make Email Permanently Manageable New York City Bar November 29, 2012 Bill Jawitz Doug Brown

  2. About Us and You • Bill • Doug • You • Size firm • Years in practice • Practice profile (i.e., primarily litigation or transactional)

  3. Your Views on Email

  4. Resource

  5. Agenda • The real cost of email overload • Key Strategies • Volume control • Quality control • Teaching others • Managing and finding emails Inspired by: The Hamster Revolution

  6. Email volume increases THE RADICATI GROUP, INC. A TECHNOLOGY MARKET RESEARCH FIRM

  7. Time Spent on Email Forty 10-hour days per year 240 50 24,000 400 hrs 12,000 2

  8. Days Saved • 20% Reduction • 8 Days Saved

  9. Agenda • The real opportunity of solving email overload • Key Strategies • Volume control • Quality control • Teaching others • Managing and finding emails

  10. 1st Key Strategy • SEND FEWER EMAILS

  11. Key Questions • Is email the right tool? • Does the recipient need it? • Is it appropriate?

  12. Unnecessary Messages • “You might need this someday” • Thank you – for routine things • Redundant news transmissions • Half-baked emails

  13. Is my email appropriate? • Compliant & Professional • Rules of Professional Conduct • Confidentiality policies • Retention policies • Your professional image • Inoffensive? • Jokes & humor • Forwarding email strings • Emotional messages • Recipient’s state of mind

  14. Email Privacy?

  15. Homework Check yourself • Your last 30 sent messages • Clear objective? • Information they need? • The image you want? • The kind of email you want? • Only 3 out of 30 “failed”? • That’s 10%

  16. 2nd Strategy • The real opportunity of solving email overload • Key Strategies • Volume control • Quality control • Teaching others • Managing and finding emails

  17. Quality Quality is not an act, it is a habit - Aristotle

  18. Standard Email Approach Right People Clear Headline Clean Body

  19. Traps to avoid • To: too many • “CC” and Distribution Lists • Promoting yourself • Manipulating others • Criticizing • Double documentation

  20. To the right people To: Those required to act Cc: Kept informed • no action or reply Bcc: Only for large mailings

  21. Subject is your headline

  22. Quality subject lines • Summarize • Set priority • Allow fast retrieval

  23. Subject lines as messages • Change subject line instead of re-using an old email • Don’t perpetuate bad subject lines

  24. Subject line prefix • Categories: • Action Needed • Information • Request • Confirmed • Delivery ACTION NEEDED: Schedule Jones deposition for next week DELIVERED: Baker summary judgment motion for your review

  25. Subject line suffix EOM (End of message) NRN (No reply needed) NTN (No thanks needed)

  26. Clean email body • 1. Greeting • 2. Action Needed • 3. Context • 4. Attachments • 5. Conclusion

  27. Action Needed • One sentence about what you want • 5 W’s + 1H • Short context to allow direct reply • WIIFM • GIGO

  28. Context • Only when needed • Concise and focused • 1 subject per message • 1 thought per paragraph • Main points at top • Bulletize • Short sentences • No jargon

  29. Attachments • Attach them first • Clear file name • Describe each one • Images as attachments, not in-line

  30. Conclusion • Niceties here • Concise auto signature • Limit graphics • Phone numbers • Confidentiality statement

  31. Example BAD Subject: Meeting Hi Jim, I just wanted to remind you about the meeting we have scheduled next week. Do let me know if you have any questions! Best wishes, Mark GOOD Subject: Reminder of 10am Meeting on 12.5 on the new doc management software. Hi Jim, We are meeting on Monday, December 5, at 10:00am in conference room A. We'll be discussing how to make the most of the new HOTDOCS system. If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch (x3024). Best Wishes, Mark

  32. 23 Tips 1. Limit email to 1 standard screen; 1 thought per paragraph 2. Avoid ALL CAPS or excessive punctuation (except prefix) 3.  Emoticons 4. Spell / Grammar Check automagically

  33. 23 Tips 5. Forward with context 6. Respond promptly • Links to online information • Templates for repeated data

  34. 23 Tips 9. Avoid excessive underlining it • Is hard to read • May be confused with hyperlinks 10. Excessivecolors distract and disruptflow 11. Useconsistentfonts& sizes

  35. 23 Tips 12. Use multiple Email accounts (work, personal, commerce – outlook.com;) 13. Train your junk-mail by marking messages as spam 14. Learn archive settings to control folder size 15. Master the Preview Pane

  36. 23 Tips 16. Check email only 4 times a day 17. Schedule time for weekly cleanup 18. Use shift and control to select multiple emails for moving/deleting 19. Set an inbox thresholds that trigger cleanup

  37. 23 Tips 20. Beware of “unsubscribe” links except from known, legit sources 22. Get and learn voice recognition on your smartphone to save typing time

  38. 23 Tips • Use YouTube to find instructions on rules, etc 24. Avoid “Oh, just one more thing”

  39. Resource

  40. 3rd Strategy • The real opportunity of solving email overload • Key Strategies • Volume control • Quality control • Teaching Others • Managing and Finding Emails

  41. Coaching Others

  42. Top 10 Senders • Start with your team. • Sort by Sender to find them • Review each. Identify area for improvement • Setting up the conversation • 10 min on agenda re: email effectiveness • Get their pet peeves at the start • Introduce tools

  43. Setting Expectations “A note about email efficiency and style: If you’re OK with it, I propose we dispense with opening and closings when emailing.  It can take some getting used to, but I find it does save time.   Let me know (I surely don’t want to offend . . . )”

  44. Jobs on Quality “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.” - Steve Jobs

  45. 4th Strategy • The real opportunity of solving email overload • Key Strategies • Volume control • Quality control • Teaching others • Managing and finding emails

  46. Your Inbox

  47. 80/20 Rule 50% delete 30% <2 min 20% later action

  48. Presort for Processing

  49. When you just have to know • Quick Scan • Platinum matters • Easily deleted • 2 minute rule • Limit time • Process • 2x / Day • 2 minutes or To-Do list • Service levels: Platinum to Bronze • Zero inbox approach

  50. Cost of Interruptions 15 165 11 825 41,250 $128,625 $375/hr /2 = 343 687 hrs

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