Here are some great tips on writing great, productive, emails. When I worked at City Hall I discovered the myriad of emails that some people have to go through. I'm sure that if more people would practice the tips from this list their emails would have been read more often and timely, and had a greater chance of actually being acted upon. It would have made things easier for everyone. Many of these tips are also applicable to voice-mail.

• First: Understand why you're writing
• Get what you need: Providing information, requesting information, or requesting action
• Write a great subject line
• Brevity is the soul of...getting a response
• What's the action here?
• More good ideas - including make it easy to quote