I’m increasingly hearing complaints about how much people hate to receive email that has been sent from a Blackberry. The complaints are generally all the same and are along the lines of, “it’s such a short response”.
Should that really be a problem? I don’t think so.
In the vein of 37 Signals and the idea behind 30 Second Rule I’m proclaiming that in the case of business email, less is definitely better. In fact, I’m proposing a rule for business email:
If a Blackberry-esque response is appropriate, then use a Blackberry-esque response.
Definition: a Blackberry-esque response is a simple, clear, and concise response to an email that simply contains the pertinent information. And nothing else. (Think of the typical email you receive that has “sent from my Blackberry†attached to the bottom).
If the email can’t be concisely communicated in a few simple statements you can bet that at some point an email is not going to be clearly received or properly interpreted. And when that happens, it’s going to suck. When an email requires a nonBlackberry-esque response (and there are many instances when this occurs) don’t respond through email. Make a call. Use the corporate wiki. Go sit down with the person. Just don’t risk losing your message by clouding it with unnecessary content.
The Blackberry rule of business email. My first rule, and I kind of like it. I’m going to try sending only the necessary response over email, and nothing else, for the next few weeks. I’ll let you know how it goes.
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