Keeping Your Mail Threads Short

My mailing strategy is not that sofisticated as I see in some ppl who are extensively using filters, rules and other stuff to make their life even harder Saying that doesn’t mean I am dumb so extremely that I can’t enjoy all the benefits of inbox rules. I tried using all that stuff in the past and have clearly noticed that all you need is Inbox, Trash, Personal Folders and Search.

I would not write this post if people using mailing rules show me a good mailing abilities but for some reasons they continuously “forget” to read that or that mail or can’t find one so I have to spend some time on forwarding them mails that should already by there and be noticed.

To add more pepper to my plate some mails can be easely treated as a masterpieces of getting things funny. People forget to write a subject. So they reply to all and adding a subject and their “sorry for inconvenience”. In 10 minutes I’m getting the same mail with smth like “adding John to this mail as well since he is in charge too”.

In many cases TO and CC lists are really overflow with people who shouldn’t be mailed. That leads to avalanche of stupid questions from those people.

So I will try to give simple advises in hope to make the world better:

• prefer simple mailbox to rules. Rules are hiding mails from your inbox to some folders/subfolders/etc decreasing the probability you will read those mails in time and react efficiently
• check twice if you specified the subject. Some mail clients are coded by a good guys and they will remind you of this but some are not.
• check twice if you added all recipients to CC, BCC and TO lists.  Again different email agents differently handles this. So best way is to add recipients only when the subject and body are done
• carefully think whom to address the mail
• Do more talking then mailing. Really. Talk is much faster and better sometimes.

Doing all these simple things your mail threads will be definitely shorter.

UPD: I posted this message just yesterday. Today I am only an hour in the office but already have got 2 mails with “sorry for inconvenience” words. One time a person did not filled in all data and second time a person did not specified a subject WTF?

UPD: +1 more today ))

Ten Commandments of a Dutifull Bloger

I’ve been thinking few minutes if there was a Bible for bloggers then what commandments it would give to those millions of people who polish each day their keyboards writing piles and piles of different posts…

If I was a blogers God I would give them the following rules:

1. Connectivity. Try to keep your posts connected by hyperlinks. You may add a phrase like “In my previous post bla bla bla” so there is a good chance the person reading that page will click and read your previous post. The net effect may be quite impressive.
2. Your post better contain some pictures, preferably with a bit of humor. Humor should be everywhere even if you write about disasters or diseases. Only sick people hate humor, the remaining 99% love it much. Remember when you were a child and you read your last book … you liked much more books with pictures, right?
3. Use good tags. Almost all blogging services provide you with some tagging abilities. Just use it with a good mind.
4. Reply to comments. That would be your mortal sin if some people interested with your post left some comments and you ignore them.
5. Read others people blogs and comment on them.
6. Promote your posts (blog) by linking it from twitter, your personal site, your company site, wherever it may fit.
7. Bring value. Your posts should be valuable to potential people out there. If you only write things like “today is rainy, I hate such weather” then your blog is shit, honestly, better go and find some friends or job. Try to have at least part of some meaningful posts on specific themes that could be valued by others.
8. If you write on a certain subject provide references to other good posts/sources/etc. on that subject. Remember a simple rule: everything you do to others they will do to you.
9. Try to express as less subjective opinions as possible especially if such opinions are aggressive/rude/etc.
10. Regularity. You should blog regular, without long pauses.

May you have a popular blog. C u.

No panic

Just a notice from yesterday work:

The amount of panic when a particular person faces some crises and tries to resolve it perfectly measures the maturity level of this person.

Emotions are good and useful things but only in case when they are positive and constructive. Panic doesn’t fit into this pattern.

I had a chance to work with both types of people: those who always stay calm and composed when some abrupt situation catches them in the open, and those who are not able to act in constructive way at all. As far as I’m not ideal in this area yet it is always fascinates me to contemplate and learn from those falling into the first category.

Verity

• Search for new friends instead of wasting time fighting with old enemies. Look up for people who like you and want to get closer, try to build relationships with such people. Don’t spent your precious time for trying to persuade or change people who don’t like you and who are not willing to change in better way.
• Don’t be greedy for a knowledge. Knowledge is not the most important thing you need. Hour of a good sleep or walk in the park or being out in the nature or with your friends adds much more value then hour of reading. The thing you could learn today but postponed for tomorrow you can already treat as learned.
• Don’t live and act and think in terms of Present or Now. Do routine things Now but think and strive for Future. Future determines what you should do now, not vise versa.
• If you feel inspiration and desire to share something with others just fix it on the paper and revise next day. Today inspiration will be tomorrow wisdom.
• Contemplate people: good people tend to change from “egocentric” lifestyle when they always aim to show how good they are to other ways where “how nice and noisy you are” is not so important for you anymore.