Post on 24-May-2015
transcript
Ray Roberston
The PASS Process
The four questions the PASS process asks are:
P for Purpose – What is the purpose of your email? A for Action – What action needs to result from your email? Does it have a due date? S for Support – What supporting documentation needs to be attached to your communication? S for Summary – Have you successfully summarized your email message in the subject line?
Ray Roberston
Ray Roberston
P – What is the purpose of your email?
Ray Roberston
Does your email correlate with a meaningful objective or task? If it does not, you may need to ask yourself whether the email needs sending at all.
Ray Roberston
If it does then
Try to summarise you’re message in the first paragraph. If you do this the reader is able to read the rest of the message in the right context.
Ray Roberston
Ray Roberston
A – What action is required as a result of your email?
The 3 most common email actions:
Task: The recipient has to complete an actual physical task (for example, order report copies or call Jack Doe). Respond: The recipient needs only to respond to the email with the information that you requested. )You did clearly state the information that you needed, right?) Read: The recipient needs only to read the email for their benefit.
Ray Roberston
Ray Roberston
Eliminate any confusion about your expectations by clearly stating the action you need the receiver to take. Make sure you include any necessary due times / dates for the actions you requested..
Ray Roberston
S – is any supporting
documentation required?
Make sure you have identified and attached any supporting documentation required. You cannot expect somebody to read the monthly sales report if you have not attached the monthly sales report to the email message.
Ray Roberston
Ray Roberston
If you are sending an attachment, remember lots of people get their emails on the go on a smart phone so help them by including the content of the attachment or a summary of it, in the body of the email as well where appropriate.
Ray Roberston
S – Summary in the subject line?
Ray Roberston
Use the "Subject" line to give a clear indication of what the email is about. Receivers can then make a quick decision about whether to open the email now, and both the sender and the recipient can find the email later.
Ray Roberston
Very common to get emails from people which come as a reply to something you sent them last week or last month. Although they are introducing a new subject, they've simply clicked on the last email and haven't changed the subject line. The result is that the subject line doesn't reflect the content and this confuses everyone.
Ray Roberston
Send?
Only send your mail after you have checked PASS. If you do: • There will be much less sending messages
back and forth since you’ve ensured your message is clear.
• Your expectations will more likely be accomplished.
• You will be sure the recipient has everything necessary to get the job done.
• And you can be confident that the true meaning of your message will be received within its subject line.
Ray Roberston
Consider including an automatic signature for your email messages that states what time of day you will be reading your messages
Ray Roberston
And that (if appropriate) provides some alterna7ve contact info
Before you finally hit
Ray Roberston
Re-read message for spelling and grammar errors.
Re-read what the message says and how is said. Think about any possibilities of misinterpretation.
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Never Ray Roberston
Blurt a message impulsively.
Say something electronically which you would not say face-to- face.
Use e mail to vent your emotions
Ray Roberston
Ray Roberston
Some situations / communications do require face to face or telephone conversations and e mail is not an effective substitute.
And Always Remember
Ray Roberston
E Mail e7que?e
Ray Roberston
Be careful what you write
Email is neither private nor secure. Do not use email to discuss confiden7al or sensi7ve informa7on. An email is a permanent record and can be easily forwarded to others or intercepted. Double check all addresses and content before you send.
Ray Roberston
Don't send your email to people who don't need to know about it
Think carefully before clicking "Reply to all" -‐ did you really mean to reply to everyone, or just the sender?
Replyallgate
Ray Roberston
Don't mark emails high priority or urgent,
Similarly don't use the words URGENT or IMPORTANT in the subject line of an email. If your message really is urgent or important email is not the correct communica7on method to be using in the first place; the telephone is probably be?er.
Ray Roberston
This will almost always annoy your recipient before they have even read your message.
Don't request a read-‐receipt