Sylvia Henderson

I am eyeing a technology purchase-one of those new PDA/cell phone contraptions currently called a SmartPhone. I have been using a Palm-based PDA/cell phone for a couple of years and love it. <br /> <p>Now the gadget manufacturer has a Windows-Mobile based unit that will allow me to end the conversions I do from my Windows-based desktop to my current PDA. (If that was all foreign to you, not to worry. It's not that important to the rest of this message.)<br /> <br /> The point of the above is to say that the new gadget I'm eyeing will allow me unlimited access to my e-mail while I am on the road. As an independent consultant and speaker, I do not have the benefit of a corporate system to which I have e-mail access through a PDA. So I am both excited about, and dreading, the new acquisition. Still (in your minds), what's the point?<br /> <br /> The point is that with the tiny, 3-inch screen of a PDA-Personal Data Assistant, e-mail length and frequency becomes even more an issue than it already is on the computer screen. To help usher in the PDA-based e-mail movement, here's a recent column I wrote with tips on keeping e-mail manageable for those tiny screens.<br /> <br /> ** E-mail Wheelies **<br /> Wheelies wow them but you tend to fall down! Apologies to the Weebles^TM wobble ditty. Did I get your attention?<br /> Wheelies are dangerous show-off maneuvers on motorcycles where the rider drives the motorcycle with one wheel in the air and one wheel in contact with the road. A lot of wheel-spinning is involved (pun intended).<br /> <br /> E-mail tends to emulate the wheelie wheel-spinning by going on and on, traveling dangerously to incorrect receivers, and carrying messages inappropriately. You can avoid doing e-mail wheelies using the following guidelines.<br /> - Keep notes to one screen-length so that the receiver need not scroll down the screen to read your entire<br /> message.<br /> - Use blind carbon copies when sending to multiple addressees to limit the addressing the receiver sees before getting to your message.<br /> - Make your subject line capture attention.<br /> - Edit your distribution lists once a month or before you use a list if not used regularly.<br /> - Copy-and-paste text you want to send to others rather than forward notes to avoid sending information not<br /> intended for sharing.<br /> <br /> Think twice and review your messages before you hit the "send" key to ride safely with e-mail communications.<br /> Sylvia</p>