Do you avoid sending unnecessary emails?

Every email you process takes time. Sifting through unnecessary emails becomes really frustrating. Don't clog up someone else's Inbox with unnecessary emails. A good rule of thumb for whether an email is unnecessary is if your email comprises of less than 5 words (e.g. "OK" or "See you then") it's likely it doesn't need to be sent.

Merely saying "thanks" is often not sufficient to warrant the email but an exception to this rule is when positive reinforcement should be used when someone has done a specific behaviour that you like and want to encourage. E.g.