Technology Thursday
I shouldn't be writing a post about managing email as my email is currently in a state that can only charitably be described as "a mess." And I feel like I've written this post before. I'll probably write it again, too! Anyway, the folks over at Google recently put up a post full of tips for managing email in gmail. Almost all of my non-work mail now flows through my gmail account. Some of the tips I've already implemented, such as:
Use filters to control the flow of incoming mail. Yes, I filter and filter and filter my email and it still gets out of control. I try to maintain a state where the only stuff that ends up in my top inbox (I also use gmail's multiple inboxes feature) is personal email or list email that I know I'll want to see right away (e.g., from my son's daycare).
Preview attachments without downloading them. This is a super handy feature in gmail. Thumbs up.
Never forget an attachment again. Gmail will alert you if you seemed to promise an attachment in your email text but did not actually attach anything. This would be more useful at work than for personal stuff, but it's still handy.
And some I should probably investigate further:
Get through your mail faster with keyboard shortcuts. I turned on keyboard shortcuts, but I must shamefacedly confess that I do not actually use them like I should. It would definitely speed things up.
Make Gmail go where the internet doesn't. There are definitely times it would be handy to be scanning/deleting/responding when I'm not online (rare though those times are), but I haven't turned this feature on yet.
Set up canned responses instead of typing the same reply over and over again. I actually haven't really come up with a reason to use this yet for personal email. For work, oh YES, but Outlook is primitive compared to gmail in many ways. Still, the idea appeals to me for its efficiency.
There are many more tips that are worth checking out if you're a gmail user. But of course, these are essentially all based on features of gmail, which is only one particular email client. At work I use Outlook. And I also have a couple of mobile devices that don't support fully-featured gmail.
Here are some of my own tips for managing email, heavily-influenced by Getting Things Done and Merlin Mann's Inbox Zero.
1) Delete (or archive) early and often. If you see something in your email while reading it on your Blackberry (or wherever you happen to be scanning your email) and it requires no response or action from you, delete it right there and then so that you don't look at it again.
2) Filter aggressively. Set up automatic filters to move things like, say, confirmations of orders from Amazon.com out of your inbox automatically. Or at least label or mark them in some way so that you can quickly skip by them (or delete/archive) on a quick scan.
3) Two-Minute rule. If it will take you less than 2 minutes to respond, do it and have done!
4) Put your email on a delayed timer. This is one way in which gmail fails. In Outlook, I have it check email and send email only every 10-15 minutes. This gives me time to fix mistakes that I notice just as I'm hitting send and it means that I'm not constantly being told that I have new mail. Related to that, the only visible notification I get of new Outlook email is a small icon in the tray at the bottom of my screen. I've turned off all noises and pop-up messages. Someday I'm going to get really disciplined and have Outlook check email only every 60 minutes. Someday..
5) The previous items were on the 'receive' side. On the 'send' side, don't send vague emails! Use clear subject headers and make it clear in your email what question you need an answer to or what action is required of the recipient. I fail at this sometimes, and, let's be honest, sometimes I'm deliberately vague (say when I want to make it look like progress is happening, but am unsure what actually needs doing or what I want done). But I know and feel guilty every time; really! Don't be afraid to edit subject headers for clarity or if the topic of the conversation has changed.
Almost everyone I know is deluged with email. It's a wonderful tool, but it's also, frankly, a mess. When the same tool is used to manage correspondence, action items, and project management for virtually every aspect of your life, it's bound to fail in some dimensions. In my experience, only very aggressive steps to keep it under control offer any hope at all -- and this is even before the problem of spam. Now, I need to go pare down my inbox again...
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