Action words in your subject line

Don’t leave it up to your reader to figure out what you want them to do with this information. Spell it out, and be specific. For example:

• Please send back any edits by 5 pm on Tuesday.
• Please call this client back by Friday to resolve the issue.

These types of emails (with the entire email is a sentence in the subject line, with no email body, just the signature)are usually sent by a very direct person, that either feels very busy or that the problem can't be solved simply in an email, so it's too much for them to go into it all.

Once you start talking on a subject, discuss it thoroughly but press for closure on what has been decided and who’s going to do what and by when, before you go on to the next item on the agenda of the meeting.

The inability to keep on track and to press for closure are the...