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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