Introduction
Let's talk about something I care a lot about: writing - and more specifically, email writing. We spend an absurd amount of time in our inbox, often because conversations drag on for no reason.
When a thread ends up with 50 or 60 replies and nobody knows who said what, it's not a tool problem. It's almost always a writing problem.
As in many productivity topics, you have to think about the J-curve. Spending a bit more time while writing saves a lot more later by avoiding back-and-forth, misunderstandings, and partial answers.
Be explicit to avoid the curse of knowledge
The first technique is to be as explicit as possible.
To understand why, we need to talk about a common cognitive bias: the curse of knowledge. It's our tendency to assume others have the same context and understanding we do.
A Stanford experiment illustrates it perfectly. Participants had to tap the rhythm of well-known songs while others guessed the song. The tappers believed about one in two people would recognize it. In reality, only one in forty did.
Email works the same way. You have the context in your head. The other person doesn't.
That's exactly what happens when someone forwards an email with zero explanation. For them, the intent is obvious. For the recipient, it's not. Result: one more clarification email.
When you write, assume your recipient has less context than you, and always make the objective, constraints, and expectations explicit.
For example, instead of simply writing "Can you send me the marketing plan?" add context, scope, and deadline. That improves response speed and response quality.
Context improves response quality
When you provide context, you let the other person think about the problem as a whole.
In the marketing plan example, your colleague might realize the requested document isn't the most relevant and suggest a better version - or even a better alternative than what you had in mind.
It's the same principle as decision fatigue: less ambiguity means less useless mental effort and better decisions.
Remove ambiguity with clear wording
Because of the curse of knowledge, we overestimate other people's ability to read what's implied. So you have to make the implicit explicit.
Three very useful abbreviations can help:
- i.e. to specify exactly what you mean
- e.g. to give concrete examples
- vs. to clarify ambiguity by contrast
These patterns help you prevent misinterpretations and avoid wrong versions, wrong formats, or wrong assumptions.
Clearly state what you want at the top
Second technique: clearly state at the very start of the email what you expect from the other person.
Ideally, write one or more explicit, visible questions first - then add details.
Many emails stay unanswered (or get partial answers) because the questions are buried in the text. Sometimes the lack of a question mark is enough to make a request sound like information.
Structuring requests as numbered questions makes answering much easier and much faster.
Use "if... then" structures to reduce back-and-forth
Third technique: use "if... then" structures.
This helps you anticipate possible outcomes and compress multiple exchanges into a single message.
A conversation that normally takes five emails can often be replaced by one - if you think through the possible cases upfront.
It's the same logic as automation, described in automating repetitive tasks: think once so you don't repeat later.
Illustrate: faster than words
Fourth technique: illustrate what you mean with images, screenshots, charts, or even short videos.
A single image can remove ambiguity that would otherwise require several paragraphs. An arrow on a screenshot is often more effective than a long description.
There are many tools that let you capture, annotate, and share visuals quickly as a link. Used well, they save a lot of time in collaboration.
When email is no longer the right tool
Finally, if a conversation keeps dragging on by email, the topic is probably too complex to handle in writing.
At that point, it's better to pick up the phone or schedule a meeting. And choosing the right meeting format is exactly what the two-pizza rule is about - so you don't recreate slowness somewhere else.
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