Description:
My distributed team frequently misses deadlines or falls into long meetings because emails are long, vague, or lack a clear ask. I want to run a low-friction program to improve written communication: teach simple templates, run short practice sessions, give feedback, and measure impact – without policing people’s inboxes.
5 Answers
I once stayed up until 3am rewriting an email about a launch while drinking terrible hotel coffee and accidentally sent the five-paragraph draft to the whole company instead of my teammate. I remember the sinking feeling and how everyone politely answered with questions that could have been avoided. I also confess I have a folder of cringe-sent emails I use as teaching fodder.
My practical fix is low-friction and not about badges. Add a tiny mandatory Decision/Action/Owner/Due header to the compose window via a canned response or template plug-in so every message starts with one line that must be filled. Pair that with weekly 10 minute peer clinics where one volunteer brings a draft and the team rewrites it live. Have managers model this habit in their own mail and give anonymous, example-based feedback. Measure adoption rate of the header and count threads that reach a decision without follow-up meetings. Small changes, visible modeling, and public practice beat policing every inbox
Your team’s email chaos sounds all too familiar. I remember back when I first joined this one company and every inbox was like a novel and every meeting was stretching out like gum. I tried the usual “Hey guys, can we keep it short?” approach and oh boy, did that blow up in my face. It wasn’t until I started sharing real examples of “email bloopers” from our own team (think the kind that leads to reruns of the same questions and wasted time) that folks started to actually listen.
Instead of handing out templates upfront, try turning it into a story-driven workshop where people bring their own emails and they all rewrite 'em live, kinda like improv comedy but for emails. It breaks the ice, shows how easy it can be to tighten up writing, and gives everyone immediate feedback without feeling like Big Brother is scanning their messages. Also sneaky but effective is encouraging a habit of adding a TL;DR line at the bottom summarizing exactly what needs to be done or decided. It’s weirdly empowering because it helps readers know there’s a clear goal without digging through the fluff.
That way, it doesn’t feel like policing or template-shoving but more like a fun team exercise that just happens to make work smoother. Trust me, no one misses deadlines when they know exactly what’s up!Emails getting lost in the abyss of vague prose? Sounds like a classic case of TL;DR syndrome! What if you flipped the script and encouraged your team to write emails like they're texting a friend—snappy, clear, and with a punchline?
Maybe introduce a fun challenge: “Can you make your email fit into one tweet?” It’s low-friction and might spark some creativity without feeling like a lecture. By the way, are you thinking about cutting down meetings too or just emails? Because those two sometimes conspire against us all!
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