On Good E-mail Habits

I've read Merlin Mann's "Inbox Zero" series. I try to follow it. I've done what I can to GTD-ify my e-mail.

The biggest piece of advice that's really worked for me is this: if you want to reply to a message, do it. Do it then and there, and if it's just two sentences, so be it.

Recipients would always rather get a two line response in fifteen minutes than a seven paragraph treatise complete with apologetic disclaimer at the top explaining why you didn't write back for four weeks.

So if you send me an e-mail, I will do my best to RSVP sooner, because let's face it: there isn't a later. If you don't hear back from me in a day, you probably won't hear back from me at all.

As much as I love procrastinating on replying to e-mail, it just doesn't work. I fantasize about sitting down for half an hour on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and catching up on all my correspondence, but it never happens. So instead of blocking off some imaginary section of time in a week to write all the things I've ever wanted to say to all my long lost pen pals, I'm just going to take the 5 or 10 to get them their answers as soon as I can.

My e-mail style may be terse for this, and I apologize, but I promise you it is much faster than the alternative.