Albert Einstein is credited with the pithy quote: "The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." He died in 1955 without experiencing the onslaught of e-mail when you log on to your computer after lunch, when it seems like everything must be happening at once. It's worth a reminder that a primary advantage of e-mail is time-shifting. Why interrupt someone concentrating on a project to ask a question if the answer can wait? So you send a message now while you are thinking about it, and the recipient can answer when he or she is focused on e-mail, not a pending project.

Laura O. Jacobs, M.D., a cardiologist with South Texas Cardiovascular Consultants, finds it very difficult to stop in the middle of a busy day to take phone calls from patients who may have questions about a prescribed medication, for example. But that doesn't keep patients from calling for an answer, lining up behind all the other business calls coming in daily. "The phone call volume is tremendous," she said, "therefore, phone calls are triaged through my nurse as a rule."

Jacobs decided to make time-shifting work for her and her patients. She hands out her direct e-mail address to patients and encourages them to send her a note if they have questions or concerns. "I decided to offer e-mail as an alternative way to directly communicate without the 'filter' of my nurse, which would be at the patient's and my convenience. It has worked very well for those who chose to use it," she said. "I have had very positive feedback from my patients." Only rarely is an e-mail an urgent health issue deserving immediate attention.

E-mail offers an additional benefit in Jacobs's mind. "Verbal instructions may be misunderstood. E-mails can be read and re-read by patients. I believe this reduces miscommunication problems," she said.

E-mail is efficient communication for Judy Wolf, as well. In her job as senior vice president, office of external affairs, for the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, she interacts with 7,000 faculty, staff and students -- not to mention numerous members of the community. A quick e-mail keeps her in the loop on many activities and events.

"My personality is such that I want to stay on top of things. For example, I want my staff to copy me on e-mail. That way, I don't have to say, 'Did you remember to do such and such?' They copy me on e-mail so I can know what is going on. It makes my comfort level higher. It works for me," Wolf said.

Personal comfort level is something to consider. The standard advice dictates controlling your inbox and actively working to reduce the number of e-mail you receive. You can politely explain to people who overload you with e-mail exactly what you do and do not want to receive. Ask to be removed from mailing lists. Someone like Wolf who receives 300 messages a day surely is overloaded -- unless those 300 messages help her feel informed and comfortable with the progress of business at hand. She finds the time. "I don't think e-mail is the onerous burden people complain about," she said. 

E-mail first, coffee second

Time management consultants also suggest setting aside specific times of day to check e-mail, just as you might return phone calls together at one time, so that you aren't constantly interrupting your day with e-mail tasks. That advice doesn't work for Wolf, either. "If I don't stay on top of it during the day, I won't get through it all," she said. "I start the day, even before I get a cup of coffee, by checking e-mail and cleaning out unwanted e-mail that has come in overnight. I've become much more comfortable hitting the delete key without even reading the message."

Handling such a volume of e-mail messages has taught Wolf to be succinct. "I went through a phase where I was more chatty in messages where now I am very succinct, often giving a one-word reply. People appreciate that."

As more people check e-mail away from their desks on wireless, handheld gizmos like a BlackBerry with a palm-sized screen or smaller, brevity is even more valued. Scrolling through a long-winded e-mail is hard on one's patience.

Cheryl Thomas uses a BlackBerry, recently introduced to the communications landscape at Valero Energy Corp, where she is vice president of retail systems. "It's a great way to maintain communication, especially when traveling," she said. "For example, if you're waiting at an airport, for an appointment, or just checking in from home in the evening, the BlackBerry is very convenient and efficient."

The downside, she said, is the "temptation to treat the e-mails that come in like you do phone calls, responding immediately each time one arrives. This can become burdensome and sometimes leads to bad etiquette." E-mail, like your cell phone, follows you around beeping all the time.

Thomas and others at Valero have also begun using instant messaging -- what's been called turbo-charged e-mail. While a wireless BlackBerry lets e-mail follow you anywhere, instant messaging -- or IM -- overpowers the time-shifting attributes of e-mail on the desktop, still keeping the speed of electronic delivery. “A great example of this is in retail call center. This center provides support to Valero’s retail stores and branded wholesale sites. When one of the call center associates needs information or advice, instant messaging provides an opportunity to communicate with a co-worker while remaining attentive to the person on the phone,� Thomas explained. “It provides a tool to request a real-time response.�

U r rite

Certain standards fall away with the space limitations of a BlackBerry or time urgency of instant messaging. “Often you see many acronyms replacing words in this form of communication. Grammar, sentence structure, and capitalization are not requirements. This is an acceptable concession for instant messaging as long as you are sure that the recipient can interpret the message,� Thomas said. But, she wisely noted, “the tone and content should not be something you wouldn’t say in person.�

No matter how fast or ethereal, it’s still business communication. What seems private usually isn’t. Messages get printed out or forwarded, so don’t e-mail anything you wouldn’t want your mother to read.

Furthermore, companies routinely monitor e-mail, just as they monitor any business resource, and companies may be legally required to save copies of e-mail and produce them for legal reasons. The law allows employers to access information on their network servers â€" and that would include your message that passes in, out or through the network. Just because you delete a message or relegate it to an electronic wastebasket doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist somewhere. Lawyers do turn to computer records for evidence. Electronic files can be subpoenaed.

In fact, more than 20 percent of the 840 U.S. companies surveyed for a 2004 report by the ePolicy Institute had e-mail or instant messages subpoenaed. The survey also showed that about 80 percent of employers have a written e-mail policyâ€"yet only about half actively educate employees about the policy. Take the initiative to learn about e-mail compliance at your company or lead a communication initiative, because 25 percent of surveyed companies have fired an employee for violating e-mail policy.

Companies have some catching up to do, technologically speaking, according to the ePolicy Institute, which conducted its survey with the American Management Association. Instant messaging, like e-mail, is a written business record to be monitored and managed. Currently, though, few companies have given IM the same attention as e-mail.
Just when you thought you’d learned the e-mail ropes, this talk of policies and subpoenas probably makes you squirm. And just when you thought you’d gotten control of your e-mail habits, new technologies are changing messages and deliveryâ€"and perhaps your comfortable level. At least it all hasn’t happened at once.

This article by Sheri Rosen first appeared in San Antonio Woman magazine, July/August 2005.

Four more ways to get comfortable with e-mail

1. There's just something about e-mail that encourages people to dash off a message and hurl it through the ether without pondering what they've written for even a minute. Develop the habit of rereading everything before you send it, not just to find typos and grammar lapses, but also to make sure your message makes sense and has the right tone.

2. Words on a screen can linger. Pick your words carefully. Avoid sending any message when you are angry. Understand that e-mail is an exchange of words, but not of facial expressions, body language or emotions. Some messages simply need to be delivered in person. There are times when face-to-face exchange is critical.

3. Right up front, tell the receiver what he or she is expected to do with this message.  Is it FYI or is some action expected? Start with: "May I have your response to what follows by tomorrow at 3 p.m.?"

4. The biggest abuse of e-mail is ignoring it. People may be depending on your responses. If you strive to respond to all phone calls within 24 hours, set the same timeline for e-mail.