Thursday Tech Talk – should you reply all?
I found myself Thursday in several conversations about the email function of ‘reply all’. The common thread was nobody likes receiving all those replies, and yet each person involved in the conversation admitted using it.
This led me to ponder, and question, and debate if there is ever a time ‘reply all’ makes sense.
After my (limited) research, I have concluded there is only one scenario where a ‘reply all’ approach feels right. When the original note is one of thanks, gratitude, or congratulations to a group of people, a ‘reply all’ allows you to chime in with more encouraging words to all deserving of the message.
Other than this, a ‘reply all’ is clogging up the email system for (probably) no value.
Do you agree? Or am I missing something? Comment below… Before I implement this challenge to my team!
Working Tech Mom 
I’m with you Kelly, with one possible exception, when leadership is needed to a group of people to stop ongoing reply all emails. As in – “I’ll handle this – we don’t all need to be involved here.” or “Kelly, will you handle this and let us all know what you come up with.” Either of these instructions needs to have an additional sentence added. “Please do not feel compelled to respond to this email. Thank you.”
I am involved with several corporate Board of Directors, who, in between meetings will sometimes need to provide their input on an issue via e-mail (as opposed to a conference call). I e-mail the question to the group and they “reply all” so that everyone can view each other’s responses and provide feedback on those as well as the original question. I think “reply all” is appropriate in any situation where a response is relevant to everyone in the group originally e-mailed.