I really enjoyed this chapter. My company has an office in Austin and one in LA so I do a lot of communicating with colleagues and managers through email and IM. I tend to naturally heed the warnings the text discussed with those two mediums, but it was really helpful to read them again.
The email tips about asking clearly what you want, making good use of the subject line, and cc’ing only people that need to hear the message were all excellent advise. Again, these are things I kind of already know, but reading them tonight, I will be sure to think twice before hitting send tomorrow.
I really liked the three step process for IM and the tips as well. I tend to want to IM my boss anytime I have a question, but I think many times an email is more respectful of her time.
Part of me really hates social media, but I guess I need to get with the times. I just feel like our attentions spans are getting shorter and shorter and no one has the “time” or desire to really delve into a topic. Even the text suggested making section headers in your writing that encourage skimming. That made me sad… But I guess for business communication, time is money, and the quicker and more efficiently you can get a message across the better.