10 Most Common Communication
Mistakes Made By IT Professionals
PADLA – Nov. 13, 2013
Hedy Baker
Communications Consultant
You’ve Got Mail …and lots of it
“Each year,$308 Billion lost
productivity, due to time
wasted with email.”
Email is Digital King
10 Most Common Email Mistakes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Not knowing your audience
Too long, dense
Unnecessary words
“Ask” is unclear
Use of jargon, acronyms, and technical phrases
Bad grammar
Spelling errors/wrong word
Complicated copy
Unprofessional formatting
One-way communication
#1. Not Knowing Your Audience
“I’ll tweet, I’ll chirp, I’ll make
whatever noise you want.
Just give me the job.”
#2. Too long/Dense
“If I Had More Time,
I Would Have Written a
Shorter Letter.”
Subject: “Communication In IT
Project”
A failure to communicate effectively is often the greatest
threat to the positive outcome of the project as effectiveness
of this facet can be the determinative factor for many project
successes.
Key aspects discussed include the dissemination of project
overviews, management of conflict and implications for team
dynamics, and the management of meetings and how this can
promote team dynamics in a project team.
#3. Unnecessary Words
FROM: In order that
TO: So
FROM: In my opinion
TO: I
FROM: Due to the fact
TO: Because, Since
FROM: At this point
TO: Now
FROM: The reason is due to
TO: Since
FROM: With regard to
TO: Regarding
FROM: On the grounds that
TO: Because
#4. Unclear “ask”
Subject Line: November Report
1st sentence:You have been involved with
managing costs in your department. These costs
are listed below.
3rd paragraph: I need to submit the budget by
Nov. 1. Please get back to me with changes.
#5. Using jargon, acronyms, and
technical phrases
ABORT
SERVER FARM
Source error
Dev server
#6. Bad Grammar
WRONG: There’s too many emails
RIGHT: There are too many emails
WRONG: My trip to NYC is
one I will always remember
WRONG: If a student parks on
campus, they have to buy
RIGHT: I’ll always remember my trip to NYC.
WRONG: In 2010, the VP said
he is fed up
RIGHT: In 2010, the VP said he
was fed up
RIGHT: If a student parks on
campus, he/she has to buy
#7. Spelling Errors/Wrong Word
 Their/there
 Effect/affect
 Its/it’s
 Ensure/insure
 Than/then
 Advice/advise
 Accept/except
#8. Unprofessional Formatting
 Fonts
 Theme, size, color, underline, bold, CASE,
 Email signatures
 Personalized: Harry Smith, your digital guru
 Quotes: “ChangeYour Thoughts – Change the World”
 Punctuation
 Let’s eat Grandma.
 Let’s eat, Grandma.
 Let’s eat Grandma?
 Let’s eat, Grandma!
• Emoticons/Photos, Clip Art, Graphics
# 9. Complicated
Subject: Release Weekend
There is a major release taking place this coming weekend. If needed, we must be
able to contact any IT associate. Make sure Dawn has all your contact info, including
your cell phone number.You must be accessible 24/7 until the end of next week.You
may be asked at a moment’s notice to come into the office.
You also need to dial into a conference call, if needed, that will be held each day
between 3 p.m.-4 p.m. When you call in, make sure to have the problem, server
impacted, users affected, how long it’s been going on, and what you have done to correct
the issue.
If you are aware of any incident, you must report it to the Help Desk. Please update
the portal site in a timely manner. Make sure you follow the process; it is the most
efficient way for incidents to be addressed in a timely manner.
You can call the Help Desk at any time, even after normal business hours. It is setup to
take calls at any time and will escalate issues to the appropriate resolver groups. To
ensure we capture and report all issues to senior management, it is imperative that
the Help Desk is the single point of contact for all incidents.
Thank you for your cooperation.
#10. One-way communication
Before Hitting Send Button…
 Write to Your Audience, Not to Yourself
 Ask Yourself: What Type of Impression am I Making
 Take Time to Do it Right
 KISS
 Check Your Grammar/Spelling
 Write, Read, Edit, Reread, Edit
 Read it Out Loud
 Provide Contact Information
THANK YOU
Hedy Baker
Communications Consultant
hedybaker@msn.com
267-240-5476