How to construct the perfect email subject line

He probably doesn't know it, but I've been a Brett Kelly fan for a while. Brett's the author of the Cranking Widgets blog, and his name comes up here at Values of n quite a bit because he's one of the most creative Stikkit hackers around.

Brett's come up with plenty of winning productivity tips, but this one is especially close to my heart: How to construct the perfect email subject line. We've all gotten email with the glaringly useless subject lines, "A question for you," or "Response" or the like. Brett outlines simple guidelines for making sure your note is scannable, searchable, and generally useful when it arrives in your friend's inbox.

Speaking of subject lines: my beta testers are enjoying the ability to fire off directions to me in the subject lines of their emails -- quick and easy, especially for mobile users.