What Emails Reveal About Performance at Work | Hacker News Reader

What Emails Reveal About Performance at Work

joshbersin.com

> In my case, I learned to “delete the subject line” and add a small new one that clearly tells the recipient what I want them to know. It turns out that this type of practice (which I developed during my years at Deloitte) is a good rule for high performers. Simplify your message and make it clear what you’re asking others to do. This, in turn, will elicit a faster response to your communication.

If you change the subject line, your email will get lost in my inbox since it will not be organized into conversations (I use gmail). I hate it when people (or systems) reply to my emails with a different (very generic in the case of automated systems) subject, to the point that I do not easily recognize what it is about.

I get that a dozen "FW"s are not easy to read. Get your email program fixed, but do not change the subject.

> If you change the subject line, your email will get lost in my inbox since it will not be organized into conversations (I use gmail)

> Get your email program fixed, but do not change the subject.

That's strange. Threading should be based on the "References", "In-Reply-To" and related header fields, not on the subject. Maybe the emails your reader cannot organise, failed to supply the correct references. Gmail might then put an extra effort in it to match subjects, but this should not be the default case (and does not work in other clients).

It used to be this way, but then Gmail appeared and changed the rules of the game. So these days you need to be aware that changing the subject line will appear as a new thread ("conversation" in Gmail jargon) for Gmail users. Which might not matter that much if you don't cut the previous e-mails that most e-mail readers append by default.

I understood the advise to only apply to emails you forward not to emails you reply to.

With replying I would be careful about changing the subject line too. With a forward I send it to new people, as if it were a new mail. In this context it makes sense to me you might also give it a more appropriate subject line.

For example you get a newsletter. One news item is relevant for a friend of yours. You forward the newsletter and with the subject line you direct his attention to the item that is most relevant for him.

If you don't have the time to read all, here's the summary:

> The highest performing leaders use simpler words to communicate, they respond faster, and they communicate more often. In other words, they are more engaged, more efficient, and more action-oriented.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com