ARMA Boston Spring Seminar 2011 Jesse Wilkins, CRM

22  in review  Reducing usage  Using more effectively

44  Everyone has client and capabilities  Everyone knows how to create messages  Everyone can forward messages ◦ To anyone or everyone

55  It’s asynchronous  It’s convenient  It’s less formal  It’s ubiquitous and platform-neutral  There’s a written record of communication

66  as filing cabinet  as collaborative tool  as distribution mechanism

77  All is important  All requires an immediate response  All should be kept indefinitely  These assumptions are often untrue

88  management is part of time mgmt  should not be used for everything

99  is not a records series  should be kept as long as needed – and then gotten rid of

11  Set up rules for “important” vs. routine messages  Consider turning off alerts  Make rules about which messages have alerts  Define specific times to check

12  Try to touch each message only once ◦ Respond to it immediately ◦ Respond to it later ◦ Declare it as a record ◦ Archive it for reference ◦ Delete it

13  Lots of traffic is stuff we ask for!  “Bacn” ◦ Vendor announcements ◦ Chapter updates ◦ The Records Management listserv Image source:

14 Source: Engy,

15  Do you really have to reply?  Don’t send “me too” messages  Use other tools for collaboration ◦ More later

17  Can be useful, but often overused  Perceived to provide accountability  Better practice: use them only when really needed ◦ Especially BCC: as these are harder to track

18  Verify addressee(s)  When replying, reply only to those who need a response ◦ Remove those who don’t ◦ Watch responses to groups, lists ◦ Reply-to vs. reply-all

19  Use a subject line  Use correct subject line for topic being discussed  Use subject lines that are informative

20  Identify whether response is required  Consider using subject line as content  Don’t declare privilege

21  Use professional tone in messages  Don’t write essays where notes will do  Determine what to do about the previous message ◦ Keep, discard, or excerpt

22  Consider the file size of the attachment to be sent  Consider the file type to be sent ◦ Security filtering ◦ Multimedia formats

23  Can the recipient receive attachments?  Send attachments only to users that truly need them  Send links instead of attachments

24