Clear Email Communication

Problem

Often, when you see how people write emails, they spend a long time getting to the point of their email. They will have a long introduction and a lot of filler material before communicating their real message. During that time, the reader gets distracted with guessing what the writer actually means..

Actions taken

Instead, start the email with the idea you want to convey. When you state what you want to talk about upfront and then follow with supporting points, you have the reader's full attention. I also avoid lengthy sentences, or verbose speech, passive voice, and unnecessary adverbs Doing so requires you to take responsibility for your ideas and express them with conviction.

"Start the email with the idea you want to convey."

Lessons learned

The CEO at Datadog writes really effective emails in this way, and it has been helpful for me to see as an example. Using this approach avoids ambiguous, circuitous conversations in email.