Write reusable templates for the five messages you send most often at work.
Ahmad is an operations executive at a freight forwarder. He keeps five message templates, and when a report runs late he can send a clear delay notice in two minutes.
Most people write the same few message types from scratch each time, such as asking for something, following up, or apologising for lateness. They often write them in a hurry, and the request often ends up buried. A template fixes the structure of a message once, so after that you only fill in the gaps.
Five message types cover a large share of most people's writing:
A request asks for something: a file, a figure, an approval or a decision. A follow-up chases a request that hasn't been answered. A handover passes work to someone else, for leave or a change of role. A delay notice tells someone that something you promised will be late. A meeting request states the purpose and the time needed.
If your own five recurring messages are different, use yours, because the aim is to template what you actually send. A nurse might need a shift-swap request and a handover note, while a bank analyst might need a data request and a sign-off chaser.
To find yours, go through your sent emails and chats from the last two weeks and note the messages you send again and again. Count the phrases you typed more than once last week, such as "could you send me", "just following up on" or "sorry, this will be late". Most people find that a handful of messages come up repeatedly, and those are the ones to turn into templates.
Write every template point first. Put the request or main message in the first line, the reason in the second, and the detail after that. Put square brackets around every gap, meaning the placeholders for names, dates, the ask and the reason.
Every template also needs a deadline slot, because a missing date is the most common failure in a request. Once the gaps are filled, the template must read like a normal message. If it sounds like a form letter, people will treat it like one, so check each template with real details filled in before you keep it.
Ahmad's request template, with every gap in square brackets, reads like this:
"Hi [name], could you send me [specific ask] by [day and time]? I need it to [reason or next step]. [One line of detail: which file, which shipment, which version.] Thanks, and if someone else handles this, please let me know who it is."
His delay notice template follows the same order, with the late item and the new date at the top:
"Hi [name], [deliverable] will be late. The new date is [new date] instead of [original date]. [One-line reason.] [What I have done or what I need from you, if anything.] [Effect on anything downstream, if any.] Apologies for the change to the original date."
When the monthly freight cost report runs late, he fills in the delay notice for Ms Chua (also an invented example):
"Hi Ms Chua, the monthly freight cost report will be late. The new date is Wednesday 3pm instead of Monday. Two carriers sent their invoices late this month. I've chased both and expect them tomorrow. Nothing else is affected, as the finance review is on Thursday. Apologies for the change to the original date."
Filling it in takes him two minutes. From the first sentence Ms Chua knows what has happened, and from the second she knows what to expect.
His other templates follow the same pattern. His follow-up opens with "I'm following up on my message of [date] about [topic]" and avoids the phrase "gentle reminder", for the reasons given in Lesson 2.3. His handover template lists each open item as [item, status, next step, contact], one line each.
Templates tend to grow, because each time you use one you're tempted to add a line for the situation you just had. If nobody checks it, a template can grow to a page after a month. Keep each one under 120 words, gaps included. When a real message needs more, type the extra into that one message and leave the template unchanged.
The real test of the templates is a week of use. Use each one on a real situation this week and note what you change. Cut any line you left blank or deleted because it didn't fit, and consider adding anything you had to type in every time.
During his week of testing, Ahmad found that his meeting request template had a "background" line he deleted every time, because the background was already in the email thread, so he cut that line. He also kept typing "this will take 15 minutes" into his meeting requests, so he added a [duration] gap.
Store all five in one place you can reach quickly, because a template you have to search for won't get used. That place might be a note on your phone, a document pinned to your desktop, or saved replies in your email program if it has them.
A finished set is five short templates in one place, each with the point at the top and a deadline slot. Most people find that two or three of the five do most of the work, so over the next few weeks polish those and leave the other templates rough.
Set aside about twenty-five minutes to pick your five messages and draft the templates. Then use the activity below for your week of real use.
Write all five templates in one document, and use at least two of them on real messages before the end of the week.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).