Month: October 2006

LifeHacker has this tip on how to recall an email.

As much as I feel the pain and understand the need for such functionality, I have to warn you against using it. The nature of the email is such that you can’t recall an email. What’s sent is sent. There are rare exceptions when it works as advertised, but in most cases it doesn’t. And the reason for that is – you don’t know what email client the other party uses.

Wonder, what happens when you recall a message from someone who doesn’t use MS Outlook 2003? I’ll tell you. The person gets another email, saying that you want to recall that last message you sent. And you look silly, if not annoying.

Even if the other party uses MS Outlook 2003, you still have a chance to be annoying. The thing is that you can recall only those emails that haven’t been read. But many people look through their inbox before reading every email in detail. So, imagine, they look throught their inbox, see a message from you with an important subject (you do use subjects, don’t you?) and plan their actions accordingly. First, they go through some other messages and then come back to yours. But yours isn’t there anymore. How does the person feel? Confused and annoyed at the very least. Where’s that message? What’s going on? Oh, c’mon!

Instead of recalling emails and hoping that it works, I suggest another way. Assume that recalling doesn’t work and behave accordingly. This assumption will help you spend a bit more time writing and checking your message. And if you do make a mistake (we all do), just send a follow-up message with a short apology and the part you forgot to include. That will work much better, I promise you.

I’ve just finished reading the book called “The Art of the Start” by Guy Kawasaki. The books is about the art of starting and operating a company in its early stages. And it’s a great piece altogether! Guy Kawasaki is a very smart and funny guy. He’s very much experienced too.

The book is excellent on so many levels that it’s almost impossible to describe. It is short and to the point. It is written in a simple, direct language. It has lots of bullets, large font, and very short chapters. Every chapter has a FAQ (Frequently Asked/Avoided Questions). There is plenty of recommended reading pointers. Also, the book is very practical and is based on a lot of experience and common sense. And there are lots of smart quotes too – at the start of every section there is at least one. And the index is great. And so many subjects are covered from pitching to managening people. And, and, and…

Gladly, Guy Kawasaki is very well represented on the web. You might have noticed that already, since I often link to his blog.

If you are interested in this book, but haven’t made up your mind if you should buy it or not, watch this video. You’ll get the taste of it from the author himself. And yes, it is that great.

Anyone who reads more than five blogs for more than five month probably knows and hates the “too busy” posts. Those appear either on the rarely updated blogs, saying how busy the author is and how he or she doesn’t have time to update the blog just now. Or they appear before the silence, saying the same thing – “I’ll be too busy to update this blog for the next few days”.

I am not an exception here – I hate those posts. They say nothing new. If the website has no news, then the author has more important things to do. That’s as clear, as a Cyprus summer day.

But on the other hand, if you ever maintained a website that was read by more than five people, you had the urge to write the “too busy” post once in a while. It’s almost unexplainable. You don’t own anyone anything, yet you feel that you absolutely have to let everyone know that you are “too busy”. It’s almost as silly as asking for the last wish before getting executed – everyone wants it, but nobody knows why.

Oh, and I almost forgot – with this post I wanted to let you know that these days I am very busy, working on a few things, and might get silent (stealth mode) on this blog for a day or two. Don’t be scared – I’m alright. And don’t panic – I’ll be back. And not only that – I’ll bring more blogging too. In the meantime, I’ll try to post at least something – quick links, random thoughts, or daily quotes… anything. Let me know in the comments which of those small posts work better for you.