When to use email

You’ll use email for most formal work communications and many information communications. Always write your email like it will be read publicly, despite the recipients. Why publicly?

1. You mail send it to the wrong person (you made an error, or you sent it to the wrong Riley Smith)
2. One of your recipients may have less discretion than you and forward it to an audience inside the firm that you didn’t anticipate or want.
3. One of your recipients may send it to a news outlet if it’s sensational enough.

When should you not use email?

Don’t use email for highly confidential or sensitive communication. Instead, use email to broach the subject and set up a call. Please don’t send a subject line with a person’s name in it. I’ve seen too many remote meetings where someone inadvertently had a notification pop-up that listed the first part of the subject line, and it had a specific person’s name in it. Put something like “Discuss team concern” or “Discuss employee performance” as the subject line.

Remember that email is discoverable and typically has a several-year retention period as part of corporate record keeping. Too many folks treat email like you’re sending notes in class vs. a formal (and recorded) means of corporate communication.