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Six Rules for Reading and Writing Emails in Arthur Liu's Blog

Posted by Arthur Liu Jul 13, 2009

We all probably have many new emails in the in-box everyday. It can take a lot of
time to read and respond to those emails. Sometimes one can feel guilty that you
can't seem to keep up no matter how hard you try. Some of the better practices to
make it an easier day include the "Six Rules for Reading and Writing Emails":

When reading emails,

1) Set up one or two periods a day to check email, rather than constantly opening
up your email box;
2) Delete immediately everything that is not important and don't be a "cyber-
hoarder";
3) Use colors, flags or folders to organize the rest of the email in a way that works
for you.

When writing emails,

4) Be succinct: Many people read emails on a mobile device. Keep in mind that an
email with only 10 sentences looks like a lengthy missive on a Blackberry screen;
5) Be relevant: If a sentence doesn't relate to your main point, delete it;
6) Be mindful of large attachements: in some email threads, if large attached files in
the original email and discussion history are not important, delete them.

Jul 13, 2009

I've taken this article from the recent Bombardier Account

Newsletter.
Nathalie Niedoba, Internal Communications Manager at Bombardier Transportation,
recently met with Verner Baird (pictured below), Vice-President Information Services
(IS) and Chief Information Officer (CIO) since April 1st, 2008. Read about their
conversation in the 'Moving into High Gear' interview below.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I originally come from Northern Ireland. I grew up in Ireland and studied both there
and in England. I hold an MSc in Manufacturing System Engineering from the
University of Warwick, England. Before joining BT I worked 23 years for Bombardier
Aerospace - 15 years in Belfast and 8 years in Montreal. I have 2 children, Christian
(10) and Jessica (6), who are enjoying life in Berlin with my wife Christine. My family
has always accompanied me, so my kids picked up some French in Montreal and are
now learning German since we moved to the German capital last Summer.

2. In a few words, describe what you do at BT.

I'm the CIO (Chief Information Officer) accountable to align IS strategies, services
and projects with BT Divisions and Functions. I see my role as bringing business
logic to the technical world of IS. I am accountable for all IS across BT and manage a
"mixed" team of 250 BT employees and 650 outsourced people (CSC, T-Systems,
SAP, etc.). These 900 individuals maintain our hardware, software and networks
around the world. We look after more than 20,000 PCs in the company and cover a
very broad scope of activities where our technology has to be available and adapt
to growth. We are currently investing into our core infrastructure; we should start to
see some gradual performance improvements in the basic IS services. Large
systems implementation like SAP are a big part of what we do; we are, for example,
about to implement such a system at our Bruges and Crespin sites.

3. What does our company strategy "Moving into High Gear" mean for you?

If we want to move into high gear, we need to build on a "Back-to-Basic" approach.

We will have goals for our services which will take us to better availability, better
performance and best costs. We should be continually challenging ourselves to do
more for less without sacrificing quality. Moving into High Gear is also about people:
I want people to be proud of working for IS. It means building a high performance IS
team (including our partners such as CSC, SAP, etc.). Finally, as we achieve all this, I
firmly believe we have to adopt a mindset that our work can be about having fun
and maintaining a work-life balance.

4. What do you see as your biggest challenge in the year ahead?

Ensuring that BT has a stable and performant IS environment and supporting the
expansions of BT into new geographies while always focusing on quality. We need to
build a service model which can allow us to be as flexible as the business needs to
be within our constraints. For example, if our business growth is not as significant,
we need to right-size our IS accordingly. In other words, we need to adapt the
technology with the flexing of the business.

5. What was your first job?

I would not call this my proudest achievement, but as part of a coop program during
my studies, I had to work one year in industry and spent twelve months working for
a cigarette manufacturer, Gallaher Ltd. During this time, I designed a robot to load
and unload cigarettes onto a making machine.

6. What do you do to relax?

I like to read, stay fit, ski in Winter and cycle in Summer. I have a passion for football
and still like to play 5-a-side - I enjoy going with some of my IS team to an indoor
field where we play football and all belong to one same team where office hierarchy
no longer applies. All other free time is consumed by my energetic kids and their
activities as well as cooking (I am the cook at home) and discovering Berlin - which
is a great city to live in - with my family.

7. What was the last book you read?

I am currently reading "City Boy", written by Geraint Anderson.

8. What do you like best about working at BT?

The people and products. I've been at BT for a year now and I find the people
passionate, engaged and proud to work for a company with such great and
accessible products. Their directness and their straight-forward approach make
them also easy to work with. Having worked on the shop floor in Belfast, I see great
similarities and find this simplicity refreshing. Regarding our products, for an ex-
Aerospace guy like me the Zefiro looks great! I also like the idea that our trains are
green and that we send out such a socially positive message.

9. How could BT be more sustainable?

One concrete action would be to amend the Employee Car Policy so that it promotes
the use of hybrid company cars.

10. When and where was the last time you used a BT product?
Every day - I take the S-Bahn from Gribnitzsee to Anhalter Bahnhof and back. I take
advantage of relaxing on the train and also get some work done by using my
Blackberry and clearing some of the email work I need to get done.

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