How many times do you read your email before sending?

mr.orange · Jul 7, 2011

I've recently taken a lot more responsibilities at work and one of my duties is to email people for paperwork, or documents that we need from them. I'm not very good at emailing so I tend to spend about 5 minutes brainstorming, writing, and editing before I send it off. I probably read it about six or seven times. I don't think I have OCD, it's just that I want my message to be clear and concise.

btw I do the same thing with poasting and text messaging but, because it's totally casual I tend to not be so anal about wording and grammar.

javyn · Jul 7, 2011

3 or 4 times, but most of the emails I send at work end with "dictated but not read"

mr.orange · Jul 7, 2011

well im no big shot so I have to read, and reread my work email lol.

imageWIS · Jul 7, 2011

Originally Posted by mr.orange

well im no big shot so I have to read, and reread my work email lol.

I've noticed this: SVP's at companies tend to write fragmented emails.

CEO's tend to write even shorter emails: see Steve Jobs.

javyn · Jul 7, 2011

Originally Posted by mr.orange

well im no big shot so I have to read, and reread my work email lol.
Me neither, but I send emails on behalf of big shot who drunkenly talks a bunch of **** into his dictaphone the night before.

RSS · Jul 7, 2011

Not enough.

Thomas · Jul 7, 2011

A few times, and sometimes if it's a particularly prickly subject I have someone else (whom I trust) read it, too.

RSS · Jul 7, 2011

Originally Posted by Thomas

...sometimes if it's a particularly prickly subject I have someone else (whom I trust) read it, too.
+1

Saturdays · Jul 8, 2011

I love the Google Labs "Undo" option in GMail, it saves me many times. I usually re-read, sometimes forget to, hit undo and re-read and then send.

For the most part its a good thing to re-read 3-4 times. You can never be too careful.

alliswell · Jul 8, 2011

Originally Posted by Thomas

A few times, and sometimes if it's a particularly prickly subject I have someone else (whom I trust) read it, too.

If you have to reread it so often you're better off scheduling a meeting.

celery · Jul 8, 2011

0-1

I'm not big on making mistakes. I also follow the rule of "never email while angry."

Fang66 · Jul 8, 2011

Compose in a word proccessing app, it's easier to read and edit, then copy and paste to the email app.

globetrotter · Jul 8, 2011

not to be all big dick - but at this point in my life I re-read my emails about 1/5 as many times as I used to. when I was younger (including the pre-email days) writing a letter for fax could be an affiar of a few hours, and I always re-read everything 3-5 times. now, I pretty much look over it, unless it is a very important email, and then I will spell check it and send it to my assistant to proof just in case for grammer and spelling I might miss. but I can afford to make the occasional mistakes now, I couldn't then. I strongly suggest continuing to re-read until you are very comfortable with your ability to write business material.

if I am sending something to be printed - I'll have two people proof it, though.

Thomas · Jul 8, 2011

Originally Posted by alliswell

If you have to reread it so often you're better off scheduling a meeting.

Oh, I hate meetings, because we have a habit of distorting everything that's said but not committed to paper. Written word is less subject to interpretation/distortion/mis-remembering. Also, my emails tend to be short and to-the-point, so re-reading it is hardly a chore. Two paragraphs is more or less my upper limit, and if I can make it shorter, I do.

imageWIS · Jul 8, 2011

Originally Posted by Thomas

Oh, I hate meetings, because we have a habit of distorting everything that's said but not committed to paper. Written word is less subject to interpretation/distortion/mis-remembering. Also, my emails tend to be short and to-the-point, so re-reading it is hardly a chore. Two paragraphs is more or less my upper limit, and if I can make it shorter, I do.

Secretly record meetings, a-la Nixon.

How many times do you read your email before sending?

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