The myth of the urgent email
by Stephen - 6th February 2025
"I'll fire off an urgent email," they said. An oxymoron if ever there was one.*
Would you email 911 in an emergency? Of course not. Urgency demands immediate attention, and email simply doesn't deliver on that front because it is an asynchronous medium.
There's an inherent contradiction when we talk about time-sensitive emails. Even the most pressing email can sit in someone's inbox for hours without a response.
A phone call, on the other hand, can address the issue in seconds, ensuring that the urgency is met.
Now, don't get me wrong, the last thing I want is to start advocating for more phone calls; we all know the dread of an unexpected ring. Nevertheless, personal comfort must take a backseat if we want to be effective.
"Dear Sir/Madam, I'm writing to inform you of a FIRE which has broken out at the premises of..."
The asynchronous nature of email isn't a flaw. It just makes it unsuitable for situations that require quick action. If you need an immediate response, email simply can't deliver.
It is, however, the source of its greatest strength: convenience. This makes it a very efficient and effective communication tool for most situations. For both sender and recipient alike. You can write a message, hit send, and get a reply when the recipient has time, if at all necessary.
It's ideal for providing updates without interrupting workflows. It helps communication with teams across different time zones. It keeps a written record of otherwise undocumented informal discussions and decisions.
These are all non-urgent matters.
Here are some situations, besides urgency, where email is not the best choice:
A time-sensitive email is just like whispering into the wind: ineffective, misplaced, and bound to be ignored when it matters most.
Worse still, it signals to others that you don't focus on delivering results, which is something that can seriously undermine your credibility in a professional environment.
So the next time you catch yourself writing an "urgent email", just do yourself a favour and pick up the phone. Yes, yes, cue the rending of clothes and pearl clutching. And, you'll thank me later.
* And for all the pedants out there (like me) itching to point out that "urgent email" is not a true oxymoron, just a regular contradiction - I'm invoking a little literary licence here. I'm suggesting that email is so fundamentally not urgent that it's practically anathema to the very concept, thereby making the phrase oxymoronic.
Stephen
Would you email 911 in an emergency? Of course not. Urgency demands immediate attention, and email simply doesn't deliver on that front because it is an asynchronous medium.
There's an inherent contradiction when we talk about time-sensitive emails. Even the most pressing email can sit in someone's inbox for hours without a response.
A phone call, on the other hand, can address the issue in seconds, ensuring that the urgency is met.
Now, don't get me wrong, the last thing I want is to start advocating for more phone calls; we all know the dread of an unexpected ring. Nevertheless, personal comfort must take a backseat if we want to be effective.
"Dear Sir/Madam, I'm writing to inform you of a FIRE which has broken out at the premises of..."
The asynchronous nature of email isn't a flaw. It just makes it unsuitable for situations that require quick action. If you need an immediate response, email simply can't deliver.
It is, however, the source of its greatest strength: convenience. This makes it a very efficient and effective communication tool for most situations. For both sender and recipient alike. You can write a message, hit send, and get a reply when the recipient has time, if at all necessary.
It's ideal for providing updates without interrupting workflows. It helps communication with teams across different time zones. It keeps a written record of otherwise undocumented informal discussions and decisions.
These are all non-urgent matters.
Here are some situations, besides urgency, where email is not the best choice:
- Complexity: Complex or sensitive issues are often better discussed in real-time, whether by phone, video call, or in person. Emails can lead to confusion or misinterpretation, especially if the subject matter is complicated.
- Back-and-forth: Similarly, if your email is likely to spark a long chain of responses, it may be more efficient to pick up the phone. Endless email threads often lead to miscommunications and slow down decision-making.
- Unlikely response: If the recipient isn't likely to read or respond to your email soon, you're better off choosing a different method of communication. A phone call, for instance, ensures a more immediate reply. Although in this case, the bigger question would be why a response is unlikely to be received, but that's a separate issue.
A time-sensitive email is just like whispering into the wind: ineffective, misplaced, and bound to be ignored when it matters most.
Worse still, it signals to others that you don't focus on delivering results, which is something that can seriously undermine your credibility in a professional environment.
So the next time you catch yourself writing an "urgent email", just do yourself a favour and pick up the phone. Yes, yes, cue the rending of clothes and pearl clutching. And, you'll thank me later.
* And for all the pedants out there (like me) itching to point out that "urgent email" is not a true oxymoron, just a regular contradiction - I'm invoking a little literary licence here. I'm suggesting that email is so fundamentally not urgent that it's practically anathema to the very concept, thereby making the phrase oxymoronic.
Stephen