E-Mail @ Three Inches Squared: Eliminate E-Mail “Wheelies”

     I am eyeing a technology purchase; one of those new PDA/cell phones called a SmartPhone. The new gadget I'm eyeing will allow me unlimited access to my e-mail while I am on the road.

     With the tiny, 3-inch screen of a PDA-Personal Data Assistant, e-mail length and frequency becomes even more an issue than it already is on the computer screen. To help maintain sanity while communicating using PDAs, here are tips on keeping e-mail manageable for those tiny screens.

** E-mail Wheelies **

     Wheelies wow them but you tend to fall down! Apologies to the WeeblesTM wobble ditty. Did I get your attention? Wheelies are dangerous show-off maneuvers on motorcycles where the rider drives the motorcycle with one wheel in the air and one wheel in contact with the road. A lot of wheel-spinning is involved (pun intended).

     E-mail tends to emulate the wheelie wheel-spinning by going on and on, traveling dangerously to incorrect receivers, and carrying messages inappropriately. You can avoid doing e-mail wheelies using the following guidelines.

• Keep notes to one screen-length so that the receiver need not scroll down the screen to read your entire message.
• Use blind carbon copies when sending to multiple addressees to limit the addressing the receiver sees before getting to your message.
• Make your subject line capture attention.
• Edit your distribution lists once a month or before you use a list if not used regularly.
• Copy-and-paste text you want to send to others rather than forward notes to avoid sending information not intended for sharing.

     Think twice and review your messages before you hit the "send" key to ride safely with e-mail communications.