Manifesto on email subject lines and document names

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Consider this a desparate cry for help.

I am often (always?) buried under an avalanche of email, many with attached documents that I have to file away for future use. If you're worth more than a shaker of salt, I suspect you are too.

I presume that if you're bothering to send me an email message, that you have something important to communicate to me. You have an interest in getting and keeping my attention, and in helping me to retrieve your message months from now when I realize with horror that I've neglected to respond to your first inquiry. It's in your interest to follow these common-sense "rules" of email etiquette and document naming:

Email Etiquette

  1. Always use appropriate and informative subject lines when sending an email. Make them as short as possible, but not shorter.
  2. Never recycle an old, out-of-date subject. If you aren't in the habit of using an email address book and you typically initiate a new email exchange by finding an old email from me and hitting the reply button, edit the subject line to reflect the new subject.
  3. If the content of a series of email replies has changed, consider changing the subject line.
  4. Keep your emails to a single subject. I'd much rather receive two emails from you, each with its own appropriate subject, than one long one with multiple subjects. This way, I don't have to work to sort through all the emails you have ever sent to me to find find that your request for a plasmid is buried in an email with the subject line: "Congratulations on your brilliant paper."
  5. In general, on work-related items, keep your emails as short as possible. If you're sending an announcement for some event, try to put all of the relevant information "above-the-fold" (i.e., don't make me scroll).
  6. For those of you at Emory, consider using the Emory Webdrive instead of sending large attachments.
  7. When engaging in a long, multi-step correspondence, when replying, delete all unnecessary material from previous messages.

Document Naming Etiquette

Document names are like subject lines in email messages. You should not name them carelessly. They should be appropriate and informative. They should be specific. They should be designed for easy retrieval by whatever search engine is present on your local computer. Here are a few rules:

  1. When naming a document, choose a name that reflects the purpose of your document.
  2. Think about where your document might end up, and give some thought to choosing a name that assists the recipient of your document in filing it away (and, more importantly, retrieving it at a later date).

As an example, suppose you are preparing a PowerPoint document for group meeting. You might choose a name such as "Group Meeting Presentation.ppt". Then, you remember that you're probably going to be giving more than one group meeting, so you add the date to the document name, giving you: "Group Meeting Presentation 060527.ppt". Finally, you remember that there are other people who are also presenting at that group meeting, and that all of their documents will be loaded onto a single computer, so you finally come up with a name that really works: "JDA_GroupMeeting_060527.ppt", where "JDA" can be replaced by your initials.

As another example, I probably have a hundred documents on my computer called "Resources.doc", one for every grant I have ever written. Shame on me. Each of these documents should have a more specific name, such as "Resources CFAR ICL 2006.doc".

As a final example, if you have prepared a Word doc summarizing a meeting you've attended, don't give it a name such as "Keystone 2006.doc". I probably have a folder titled "Keystone 2006" (or better yet, "Keystone Viral Immunity 2006"). Instead, name your doc something like "Keystone Viral Immunity 2006 XXX summary.doc", where XXX indicates your initials, not what you did after hours at the meeting.

These are just examples that illustrate basic principles. Apply these concepts to naming your own documents, especially if you plan to distribute the document.

Summary

Although I have composed and posted this page at great personal risk -- it may forever finger me as a pedant -- I really do believe the following:

  1. Everyone with an interest in communicating effectively and getting things done has a self-interest in following some or all of these guidelines.
  2. Here's the real shocker. If you are thoughtless with stuff like this, frankly, you are being rude.

The question is: can I be a pedant without being rude too?

Thanks for reading to the bottom. Now get to work.