Underused Techniques for Effective Emails

The page says effective emails are clear, action-oriented, relevant, efficient, and succinct. It argues that developers can improve email quality with a few simple techniques that are still underused.

Reading notes

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• Put the most important information first, using a one-line summary or short bullets before the greeting when needed.
• Keep supporting details in descending order of importance, following an inverted-pyramid structure.
• Use the Markdown Here browser extension to write and format emails in Markdown, especially when code snippets or inline code are involved.
• Prefer complete replies over quick ones, so email threads solve the problem in as few messages as possible.
• Split threads when the topic changes, update the subject line, adjust recipients, and briefly explain the context to new participants.
• Use headings and paragraph breaks in longer emails so readers can follow the structure and find the parts that matter to them.