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On Wednesday, December 21, #MandCPL wiht Vadim Izdebskiy organized a workshop called “Business correspondence: writing e-mails that won't get ignored”. Agenda: - Got mail? - The Do’s and the Don’ts - Practical exercise - Q&A - Bonus:Outlook and Gmail tips & tricks
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{
Business Correspondence
Writing emails that won’t get ignored
Who is this guy?
9+ years in software development
From Junior C++ developer to Program Manager / Tech Consultant
Teams from 3 to 10 people
Customers from Belgium, Australia, Canada, US, Germany, UK, Malta, Denmark
…Email Nazi!
So, need to write an email?
{Stolen thoughts and ideas
A bit of Theory
Self Fulfilling email Inquiry Open-Ended dialog Action email
What is the Purpose?
Spends a long time crafting the ‘perfect’ email.
Believes that their request is original, unique, and special.
Cannot imagine why anyone would turn them away.
Desires to tell the whole story
Who is Sender?
Gets a lot of email Regularly gets asked a
standard set of questions and favors
Does not have a lot of free time
Does not mind helping you, if it is fast
Who is Receiver?
2.7 seconds
Time to take decision
To construct email that:
Will actually be read Will actually be understood Will not annoy receiver Doesn’t take too much time to
react
Our Goal
{Building blocks
Composition
Never ever forget it!
One phrase summary Short, informative, related Reflects the purpose
Subject:
People who need to
respondor
take action
To:
People who need to
be informed
CC:
What about BCC:?
Introduction Problem description Conclusion
Body:
{http://level2.ciklum.net/index.php?option=com_userdet
Signature
{Length, look, style
Tips on Content
Remember to KISS Pretend face-to-face intro Use text message trick Minimize questions Do word trimming
…but be personal
Tips
Use Simple English Ask for reaction explicitly Split to parts for different
people/actions/questions Bold people names (use @, twitter-
style) Use links instead of attachments Define abbreviations Put reference info to the very end
Dos
Don’t overuse High Importance (!) and red color
Don’t use Royal English Don’t misspell names Avoid jargon
Avoid using different fonts, sizes and colors
Donts
Ready to press ‘Send’?
Read it!(three times)
{The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Examples
-----Original Message-----From: David W Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 10:32 AMTo: Roberts, JohnSubject: repeated server warnings John, Below is terminal output I got the first time I started the server process. The warning about the lock file is coming out every 30 seconds. Where is it trying to write this file? Would this be caused by some kind of permission problem?
Thanks,
David WinchNGT Development Mar 30, 2006 10:21:48 AM java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences$2 runINFO: Created user preferences directory.Mar 30, 2006 10:21:49 AM java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences$3 runWARNING: Could not create system preferences directory. System preferences are unusable.Mar 30, 2006 10:22:19 AM java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences checkLockFile0ErrorCodeWARNING: Could not lock System prefs. Unix error code 805449496.Mar 30, 2006 10:22:49 AM java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences checkLockFile0Err
-----Reply Message-----From: Roberts, John Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 11:04 AMTo: David W Subject: RE: repeated server warnings David, What environment variables do you use in the command line? I have not come across this before. Probably, permissions to default locations where the java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences class tries to write preferences are insufficient.
Please, let me know if I can help more.
Regards, John RobertsSupport Engineer
----- Message-----From: Roberts, John Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 03:12 PMTo: Neit, Paul Subject: Build environment corrupted?
Paul,
While trying to make the latest build I am getting the following error:
$ . ./ngtmake_9_1.ksh
Error: cannot access ngt9-13.jar
The testing team is stuck on getting the release acceptance. Could you please look into the problem ASAP and let me know?
Thanks in advance,
John Roberts
Support Engineer
From: Cathy Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 4:16 PMTo: Gille, AndrewCc: Subject:
Andy, I don’t know for sure but check what it takes to load NDPT data into the test DB.
Thank you, Cathy.
-----Original Message-----From: Gille, Andrew Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 10:32 AMTo: Goodwriter, CathyCc: Grace, BillSubject: Problem loading production database
Dear Cathy,
Could you please help me with understaing of a root cause for such a strange behavior of database loading scripts. I wonder why time being consumed exceeds the limits set in the functional requirements. We have been testing the database with customer data this week and require your input asap. Bill, what do you think of this?
Sincerely,
Andrew Gille
{Yep, I know
Homework
Report a technical problem on a customer side that blocks your work
Addressee: Vadim Izdebskiy, Program Manager
Problem: No access to source code Timeline: End of major phase, time to
build Urgency: Severity 1 issue Action: Resolution required from
customer
Exercise 1
You are missing a deadline
Addressee: Vadim Izdebskiy, Program Manager
Milestone: RC code freeze
Exercise 2
Thank you!
… and MORE!
I will be happy to discuss it with you FURTHER
Bonus
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