Urgent email is not a thing

Questions you can wait hours to learn the answers to are fine to put in an email. Questions that require answers in the next few minutes can go into an instant message. For crises that truly merit a sky-is-falling designation, you can use that old-fashioned invention called the telephone.

Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (2013). Remote.

There should be no such thing as an urgent email. Email, by it’s nature, is a channel for asynchronous communication. Urgency, but it’s nature, should be as synchronous as possible. Email is an inappropriate channel for urgent messages.

If it’s urgent, don’t use email. Pick up the phone and call.

Learn more about Email Management Strategies.