To Err is Human. To Use Microsoft ‘Send Later’ Divine

Microsoft Outlook Send Later: Check It Out

Successful business professionals set a high bar and tend to be passionate about goal achievement. But when industry leaders receive an unsettling email about a significant setback or internal rift, the gut-reaction can be to rip off a heated and, sometimes, less-than-professional response.

Despite earning a long-standing history as a consummate professional, that single moment when emotions overcome steady business acumen can tarnish your reputation. That’s one of the reasons that Microsoft developed the “Send Later” option. If you are passionate about work, life, and strive for success, these are ways Send Later can be a digital asset.

Send Later Can Improve Time Management Productivity

An examination of how high-profile CEOs manage the constant barrage of emails produced some interesting anecdotal data. Many CEOs have a habit of quickly dispatching responses in an effort to maintain real-time communications. But they also tend to incur a negative impact because this fast-paced exchange overwhelms their inbox and reduces time for other essential tasks. Jeff Weiner, executive chairman at LinkedIn, speaks directly to this issue in an article he reportedly penned called 7 Ways To Manage Email So It Doesn’t Manage You.

“As ridiculously simple as it sounds for such a pervasive problem, I’ve found this to be the golden rule of email management: Send less of it,” Weiner reportedly writes. “This rule first occurred to me during my experience at a previous company where two of the people I worked most closely with ended up leaving the organization within the span of several weeks. They were both highly effective communicators, worked long hours, and, as it turned out, sent a lot of email. While they were at the company, our email cadence seemed absolutely normal. It wasn’t until after they left that I realized my inbox traffic had been reduced by roughly 20-30 percent.”

One of the ways that Send Later helps professionals to reduce email is by scheduling outgoing times. It’s an open secret that most people respond promptly. If your email sends in bulk at a specific time, expect a bulk response rather than a continual flood.

Improve Quality Of Electronic Communication

A Tech Republican analysis called Four Ways to Control Outgoing Email in Outlook hits upon some salient communication control issues. While writer Susan Harkins points out the potentially devastating impact of emailing angry, she makes the following pair of qualitative points worth considering.

• Allowing an email to sit for a few hours, or even a few minutes, gives you a chance to review the content with (sort of) fresh eyes. You’ll catch errors you didn’t catch before.
• Some conversations go back and forth too quickly, so you might respond before you have all the information or ask questions that the next message answers. Slow down and avoid playing email tag.

Send Later strategies give industry professionals the necessary time and distance to circle back and revise electronic communications in a way that improves grammar, spelling, and word-flow. It also allows leaders to revise a response and make it a comprehensive communication that leverages all the available facts.

Send Later ranks among the strategies that can help professionals improve quality communication and avoid getting bogged down in excessive quantity. The managed IT professionals at Pulse Technologies hope these Send Later tips prove valuable to the industry leaders we work with in SW Florida, Puerto Rico, and US Virgin Islands.

James Ritter

Experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. Skilled in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), IT Service Management, Team Building, IT Strategy, and Management. Strong entrepreneurship professional with a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) focused in Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management from Humboldt University of Berlin (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin).