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When the Boss Is a Terse Emailer
当老板喜欢简洁邮件之时
What's worse than a boss who sends novel-length emails? A boss whose messages contain messages so brief, they'd fit handily into a tweet.
与发送小说篇幅邮件的老板相比，更糟糕的是什么呢？那就是信息过于简洁的老板，他们的信息很适合微博。
"The potential for email misfires between bosses and subordinates is mounting, as the volume of email grows and more people read it on the fly on mobile devices," writes Sue Shellenbarger at The Wall Street Journal. "Sometimes the boss is too rushed to read. Employees fuel the problems by sending poorly written emails. Deeper issues can arise if bosses' and employees' communication styles clash."
Sue Shellenbarger在华尔街日报上写道“由于邮件量增多，越来越多的人用手机匆忙地查阅邮件，导致老板和下属之间潜在的邮件沟通失败逐渐增多。有时老板还会因为太忙而没时间看邮件。员工有时写的邮件内容很差，提高了问题的严重性。如果老板和员工的沟通方式存在冲突，就会产生深一层的问题。”
So what does it mean when the boss sends back one word --"done," for example, or "OK"? Well, it depends on the boss, and on you.
有时老板给你发回一个信息写着“完”或者“好”，这是什么意思呢？这当然是取决于老板和你自己。
Scenario 1: The boss doesn't reply.
场景1：老板不回复
Possibilities: She's hoping you figure it out on your own -- or she's too busy.
可能性：老板希望你能够自己弄明白——或者她太忙了。
If it's the former, you'll be able to figure it out over time by examining the pattern. If there are certain questions your manager never answers, and they're items you could check off yourself, you might be better off solving your own problems, and keeping her in the loop about your decisions.
如果是前者的话，那么经过一段时间来分析问题，你自己就能解决。如果经理从来不回答某些问题，那是因为你可以自己查清那些项目，那最好还是你自己解决问题，并且要让老板随时知晓你的决定。
If it's the latter, a brief conversation at your next check-in about communication styles wouldn't go amiss. Ask her how she wants to be communicated with, and you'll both get more out of your interactions.
如果是后者的话，那么在下次签到的时候与老板简单谈一下沟通方式的问题，就会避免出现差错。问一下老板喜欢什么样的沟通方式，那么你就能在交流中获得更多。
Scenario 2: The boss sends one word -- or worse, a symbol.
场景2：老板只发送一个字——或者更糟，只有一个符号。
Jeff Bezos famously sends emails to Amazon employees containing just one character-- a question mark. As you can imagine, it's never a good sign.
Jeff Bezos经常向亚马逊的员工发送一个字符“？”，他也因此而闻名。正如你所想的一样，这个符号绝不代表什么好消息。
The reason this terseness works is because Bezos' employees know what he means. If you don't know what your boss is driving at, feel free to ask. As Shellenbarger explains in The Wall Street Journal, that brief reply might actually be a sign of trust, not a sign of frustration. If your manager knows you can handle things, he might not waste time sugarcoating his message.
因为Jeff Bezos的员工知道其中的含义，所以这个简洁的符号很有效。如果你不理解老板的用意，那么你可以随时去问。正如Shellenbarger在华尔街日报中解释的一样：简洁的回复实际上是一种信任的象征，而不是失望的标志。如果老板知道你能把事情处理好，那么他就没必要浪费时间美化消息了。
Which brings us to our final point: no matter what the underlying issue is, brevity is your friend. Don't waste time -- yours and your manager's -- with long preambles and rambling thoughts. Get right to the point in your next email, and your boss will have more time to process what you're saying and formulate an answer.
我们的最终的观点：无论潜在的问题是什么，简洁就是你的朋友。不要用长篇大论和杂乱无章的想法来浪费你和经理的时间。
Tell Us What You Think
告诉我们你的看法
How do you deal with hard-to-decipher emails?
你怎样处理难以理解的邮件呢？
译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载
