You Are Probably Doing Email All Wrong

Email is the workplace tool we all use daily, like a microwave or a staplerexcept this stapler can steal your afternoon,
start a 47-person argument, and somehow make you feel guilty for reading it. If your inbox feels like a never-ending
escape room (and the key is always “just a quick follow-up”), you’re not alone. The good news: most email pain comes
from a handful of fixable habits.

This article isn’t about becoming a robotic “Inbox Zero Monk” who only communicates in bullet points and calendar invites.
It’s about sending and managing email in a way that’s clearer, faster, kinder, and less likely to make you stare into the
fridge at 10 p.m. wondering where your brain went.

The Core Problem: You’re Using Email for Everything

Email is asynchronous communication. That’s a feature, not a buguntil we treat it like chat, a task manager, a meeting,
a sticky note, and a therapist. When email becomes the default for every question, decision, update, and “tiny favor,”
it turns into a messy workflow: lots of messages, little progress.

A simple rule: Email is for decisions and documentation

• Good for: clear requests, status updates, confirmations, summaries, sharing decisions, tracking commitments.
• Bad for: brainstorming, conflict resolution, emotionally charged topics, rapid back-and-forth, unclear ownership.

If an email thread needs seven replies to define the problem, email was the wrong tool. Switch to a document, a task board,
or a short callthen send one email that captures the decision and next steps.

Stop Writing Emails Like a Novel

Most people don’t “read” email. They scan it on a phone between meetings, while mentally calculating lunch. That means
your email needs structure. The fastest way to get ignored isn’t being rudeit’s being vague, long, and action-free.

Use BLUF: Bottom Line Up Front

Put the purpose and required action in the first 1–2 lines. Think of it as being polite to someone’s attention span.
If your email doesn’t clearly say what you want, the recipient has to do extra work. And people are extremely committed
to avoiding extra work.

Try this “3-part email” format

1. BLUF: what you need and by when
2. Context: only what’s necessary
3. Next steps: numbered actions or a direct question

Before and after example

Subject: Quick question

Better:

Subject: Decision needed by Thu: update slide 7 numbers?

Notice what changed: the second email makes the decision easy. The recipient doesn’t have to guess what “thoughts” means,
or what “when you get a chance” translates to in human time (usually: never).

Your Subject Lines Are Probably Lying

Subject lines are not decorations. They’re navigation. A good subject line tells the reader what this is and what they
should do with it.

Subject line upgrade cheatsheet

• Use: “Action needed by Friday: approve budget”
• Avoid: “Budget” (this could mean anything from approval to existential dread)
• Use: “FYI: final agenda + parking details”
• Avoid: “Important” (everything is important when nothing is specific)

Add “tags” at the start (sparingly)

• [Action] when you need a response
• [FYI] when you truly don’t
• [Decision] when you’re asking someone to choose
• [Update] when you’re closing the loop

These mini-labels reduce confusion, cut unnecessary follow-ups, and prevent the classic workplace tragedy:
“I thought you were just sharing, not asking.”

You’re Turning Your Inbox into a To-Do List (and It’s a Bad One)

Inbox-as-task-manager is tempting because it’s already there. But email is a terrible project management system:
it hides priorities, scatters context across threads, and makes “mark unread” feel like productivity.

Fix it with a simple separation of jobs

• Email’s job: deliver messages
• Your task system’s job: track work

When an email becomes work, convert it into a task (in your to-do app, project board, notes, whatever you actually trust),
then archive or file the email. The goal isn’t a perfect inbox. The goal is a mind that can finish one thing without
being chased by 39 “quick pings.”

CC, Reply-All, and the Art of Not Making Everyone Hate You

The CC line is not a group chat. It’s a witness list. Use it when someone truly needs visibilitylike for accountability,
handoffs, or institutional memorynot because you’re nervous and want a bigger audience.

CC rules that save careers (and group morale)

• CC people who need to know. Not people who might enjoy knowing.
• BCC for privacy when emailing a group who shouldn’t see each other’s addresses.
• Reply-all only when your response changes the shared understanding.
• If it’s only for one person, reply to one person. Revolutionary, I know.

Write Emails That Are Easy to Answer

If your email requires the recipient to write a novel, you’ll wait a long time for Chapter One.
Make replies simple by offering options, asking one clear question, or specifying exactly what you need.

Make “next steps” painfully obvious

• Bad: “Thoughts?”
• Better: “Do you approve option A or option B? If neither, what’s missing?”
• Best: “Reply with A or B by Tuesday. If no reply, I’ll proceed with A.”

That last line is a power tooluse it respectfully. It works best when you truly have authority to proceed,
and when you’ve already aligned on expectations.

Stop Treating Speed as Politeness

Many workplaces quietly reward instant replieseven when instant replies destroy focus. This creates a “hyper-reactive”
culture where the loudest thread wins and the actual work loses. A healthier pattern is batch processing: set a few
windows for email, and protect the rest for deep work.

A practical email rhythm

• Check 2–4 times/day (adjust for your role)
• Use quick triage: delete, delegate, do (2 minutes), defer (task it), or file
• Reserve one block for longer responses so you’re not writing essays between meetings

If you’re in a role that truly requires rapid response (support, incident management, on-call), build a separate channel
for urgent itemsso “urgent” doesn’t become a synonym for “my calendar makes me anxious.”

Automate the Boring Stuff (So You Can Think Again)

The best email is the one you never had to read. Use filters, rules, labels, and folders to keep noise out of your primary
attention lane. For example: newsletters to a “Read Later” folder, automated notifications to “System Updates,” internal
FYIs to a low-priority bucket. Your inbox should surface action and decisionsnot every digital breadcrumb in your company.

Three low-effort automations that help immediately

• VIP rule: highlight emails from your manager, key clients, or your team
• Newsletter filter: auto-file subscriptions so they don’t masquerade as emergencies
• Thread cleanup: filter “noreply” or system alerts to a folder you check once/day

When Email Goes Wrong: Tone, Clarity, and the “Assume Good Intent” Filter

Email is famously bad at carrying tone. A short message can sound angry. A friendly message can sound sarcastic.
Meanwhile, your recipient is reading it through the lens of their daymaybe they’re calm, maybe they’re one calendar
invite away from moving to a cabin.

Reduce misreads with tiny upgrades

• Be specific (“Can you send the file by 2pm?” beats “ASAP.”)
• Use neutral phrasing (“I may be missing somethingcan you help me understand…?”)
• Separate people from problems (critique the process, not the person)
• If it’s tense, switch channels (a quick call beats a 12-message tone spiral)

A Tiny Decision Tree for Better Communication

Ask yourself:

• Does this need a record? Use email (or a doc + email summary).
• Does this need fast back-and-forth? Use chat or a call.
• Is this complex or emotional? Use a call/meeting, then email the decision.
• Is this work to be tracked? Put it in a task system and link it in the email.

Conclusion: Email Isn’t the EnemyUnclear Email Is

You don’t need to “win” at email. You need email to stop ambushing your day. When you write with BLUF, craft truthful
subject lines, make messages easy to answer, and move tasks out of your inbox, email becomes what it was always supposed
to be: a useful toolnot a lifestyle.

Start with one habit this week: upgrade your subject lines, or put the ask in the first two lines, or stop using “Thoughts?”
like it’s a full sentence. Small changes compound fast. And once your emails become clearer, something magical happens:
you get fewer emails.

Bonus Field Notes: of “Yep, I’ve Seen That Email” Experiences

These are composite, real-world patterns many teams run intono names, no shaming, just the kind of inbox chaos that
makes you whisper, “How are we a functioning society?”

1) The “Quick Question” that became a mini-series

Someone sends: “Quick questionare we good on the launch?” No date, no definition of “good,” no owner. Three people reply
with three interpretations. Now you have a thread where everyone is technically communicating and nobody is actually deciding.
The fix was hilariously small: one person rewrote the question as “Decision needed today: do we launch Friday with the current
QA pass rate, or push to Monday?” The thread ended in two replies. The lesson: vagueness creates work; clarity closes loops.

2) The CC Grenade

A frustrated employee copies half the org “for visibility” on a complaint that should have been a private message.
Within minutes, the discussion is no longer about solving the issueit’s about defending reputations. The fix wasn’t a bigger
email. The fix was a direct conversation, followed by a short written summary: “Here’s what we agreed to change, here’s the
owner, here’s the deadline.” Email should document resolution, not host a public trial.

3) The Subject Line that lied (and ruined search forever)

A thread titled “Re: Re: Fwd: Proposal” becomes the home for six different topics over three weeks. Later, someone tries to
find “the final pricing decision” and accidentally resurrects the whole thing with “Any updates?” The fix: whenever the topic
changed, the sender changed the subject line. It felt “extra” for a day and saved hours for months. Your future self is begging
you to stop burying decisions in misleading threads.

4) The Time Zone Trap

A manager writes, “Need this by end of day.” The recipient reads it in another time zone and panics. Clarifying “EOD PT” (or
better: “by 5pm PT”) prevented needless stress. Bonus: adding the reason (“so we can include it in tomorrow’s review”) made the
deadline feel purposeful instead of arbitrary. Deadlines land better when they’re specific and explained.

5) The Email that should’ve been a checklist

A long email describes a process: steps, exceptions, caveats, and “please don’t forget…” It gets ignored because it’s hard to use.
The fix was turning it into a short checklist and linking it in the email: “Use this checklist for every request. Reply ‘done’ when
complete.” People actually followed itbecause it was actionable. When your email contains a repeatable process, your best format
is usually not paragraphs. It’s a list.