emails schmails

I don't know about you, but I find emails are mostly a really unsophisticated medium of communication. People treat them casually, as if because they are easier than sending a letter, they therefore don't have to be as formal. As a consequence, they don't always think as hard about how they are recieved at the other end. I have received countless terse emails that come across as narky when they needn't be or aren't intended to be (accountants are usually best at this - sorry but it's true). People run off emails in the heat of a moment and send them off, where they probably should take a moment to calm down, or even better, should just pick up the bloody phone and sort miscommunications out once and for all (far quicker too). Even the most casual and friendly emails, almost sms-like in briefness, can be misinterpreted in this way. And worse of all, the type of email that is a mighty battle of egos, deflecting blame (under the guise of "clarifying"), complete with people's bosses cc'd in.

One of my bosses over the past few years taught me something useful namely his discipline of always writing an email like a letter, complete with a "Dear ____" at the start and a proper signing off at the end. It makes a huge difference I think. I mean, as pressed as you are for time, how hard is it to add these to emails? Writing something properly first time around can save you a lot of time in the end. Yes, these lines can be blurred with good friends of course, or at the end of a friendly e-discusssion, or if you are just emailing to say "thanks!". But for most work emails, I think this is extremely important that people email carefully, even with people who work together all the time. Or am I just in an industry of bad communicators?

* yes I just got a terse email from someone at work that's upset me a bit