How to write better (and fewer) emails by building pyramids

Imagine receiving the following email on a busy afternoon:

“Mr. Jones is not able to make the appointment on Friday at 3 pm. Mrs. Smith claims that she has something else to do, too. Monday would be appropriate, but not before 10.30 am. According to the secretary of Mr. Doe, Mr. Doe will not be available before Monday at 9.30 am. The conference room is occupied on Friday but is still available on Monday at 2 pm. What do you think?”

Apart from pointing to a blatant case of energy-minimizing email ping-pong, this one has two shortcomings: First, the core message is hard to understand because the author drives you through his process of understanding the problem. Second, instead of proposing a solution, he pushes that work over to you. As a result, that email will probably produce just one result: more emails.

The most efficient collaborators avoid these shortcomings. To minimize the number of emails they need to deal with each day, they are deliberate about email format and organization. Most importantly, they write better and fewer emails by structuring their communication hierarchically: Core message first, supporting arguments after that.

That approach goes back to communication expert Barbara Minto. She was the first female MBA professional ever hired by McKinsey & Company as a consultant, trained countless colleagues at "The Firm", and in 1985 summarized her approach in the book "The Pyramid Principle”. Based on Minto’s approach, here are three tips for writing better (and fewer) emails:

First, use the subject line. It’s the first thing that the receiver reads, so help her process your email by adding essential information (e.g., the desired outcome or due date). Also, include well-known abbreviations (e.g., “FYI”) or pointers (e.g., “URGENT”) if appropriate.

Second, start with the core message. Think of the first three sentences as the top of your logical pyramid, and make sure that these include its core message. If it’s not possible to articulate that message in the first three sentences, use a call or meeting.

Third, do not drive your receiver through your own process of understanding. Instead, structure the body of your email hierarchically: After providing the core message (e.g., a proposed solution), support it with convincing arguments, and leave out everything that’s non-essential.

Applied to the email at the top, a revised version could read like this:

“Could we postpone the meeting arranged for Friday at 3 pm to Monday at 2 pm? This appointment would be more appropriate for both Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith. Even Mr. Doe would then be able to participate.”

That’s quite a difference, isn’t it?

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Until next week,Christian