Inbox Zero
Over the last couple weeks I have covered some ground talking about various aspects of email. Check part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.
Too much email is now an old cliche and pretty obvious statement, the key question remain then how can you deal with it.
Different people will approach managing email in different ways however there is one method that it’s simple to apply and very effective. The method is called inbox zero and has been created by Merlin Mann based on the principles of GTD methodology.
Inbox Zero is not a magic wand that waves a way all email troubles although I’m sure many people would like that. If you need that try using DELETE key more often. The approach is about making decisions about the content of messages and clarifying the outcomes by regular review of the inbox. Once processed to zero you create a clean slate for new messages to arrive.
As Inbox Zero process takes a lot from David Allen’s GTD methodology there are five stages of the workflow:
Delete/Archive – you first decision should be to decide whether the message should be deleted or archived. By making it first item you gain a lot momentum and cut out a lot of unwanted stuff.
The alternative is to archive if the message might come handy in a simple and flat folder structure.
Delegate – People have different strengths so rather than spend hours sweating over a task, see if there is someone who can do it better faster etc. Even if you’re not a manager see if one of your colleagues is not better suited for this task. Trade something with them. This way both of you would benefit from working of your strengths.
Respond – some things are not worth tracking. If you can respond in 2-4 minutes, do it immediately and have it done. Keeping track of smaller items will take more time and effort that it’s worth.
Defer – bigger items or those where you need to do some preparation should go in your task list. Email is not the only thing you are responsible for so keeping separate list for email isn’t most effective way for managing todos.
Do – When it comes to task execution never work directly from your inbox. Refer to task list a pick an item from there. Once one item is done, don’t check the email just yet, complete two more and then see if new emails have arrived. Since email is only part of your work it should share the same space with other tasks you have to do. This way you can start making progress on things you’ve decided before and not spending time constantly reviewing new emails as soon as they arrive.
If you want to get into more details of the concept and listen to the author, I’m recommending booking some time to watch this video on YouTube.
Quotes form the 99% Conference
I was catching up on my Read it Later items and came across this post summarizing the key insights and ideas from the 99% Conference. Below are some very interesting quotes from some of the speakers.
Andrew Zuckerman:
What gets projects done for me is not inspiration. It’s curiosity and rigor.
It’s the aptitude for hard work that separates the ones who reach a different level of stardom.
Beth Comstock:
Make heros out of the failures. Pay attention to the learnings.
Johshua Foer
The ‘Ok Plateau’ is the point when we turn on autopilot and stop getting better at a certain thing.
Experts treat what they do like a science
Is email your work?
Very often we find that after a long day we haven’t made that much of a progress and all we can remember is email and the countless number of of the messages we’ve gone through.
On the other hand email provides us with instant gratification of completion. Simply take one message, respond to it and problem solved. If compared to few hours of continuous effort to close out a project not wonder email wins.
When someone takes a day to respond does this annoy you? We came to expect that since email provides instantaneous delivery people will behave in the same way. For many few hour response time is not acceptable. However we tend to forget that email is just one element of work. Unless you work in client service team and receiving requests via email you have plenty of other responsibilities. Managing email is only one of them.
What’s in your job spec?
Lets start at the beginning. When you look at your job description does it say deal with email? Most likely not.
For majority to of people the job spec includes things like reporting, writing, attending meetings and discussions, gathering information, routine tasks etc. Sure some of responsibilities will involve dealing with email but the connection is always indirect. Yet somehow we end up spending majority of our days dealing with email and complaining that we are not doing what we were supposed to to.
How much value?
When email came about initially it was this great tool for instant communication. When letters took days to deliver, email was this tool to deliver messages instantaneously.
Nowadays many people have this expectation that we should respond to email very quickly. Yet they forget about two things. Each of us receives plenty of mail, so when sender thinks he’s creating one to one connection for recipient it’s one of many connections to deal with.
Secondly we have limited number of hours at our disposal hence we need to make very smart choices and allocate time where we receive the most value in return.
Better choices
Since we can spend our working day on countless activities each similarly important we should consider following question: does responding to email is more important than working on a project Y or task Z? Unless you work in a call center and dealing with email and your primary responsibility it’s more than likely that you can wait few hours before responding.
Question
Before your start a new day and dive into unread messages consider what bring more value.
Can emails from yesterday evening wait until lunch time so that you can spend some time on this important project?
We need more artists
Fascinating talk by sir Ken Robinson explaining how current school system favor other disciplines over arts and dance and how important it is to bring up more balance.
To date arts and dance were neglected and considered less important as they don’t give students tangible skills or a trade. When we hear people decide to go to arts school most ask them with polite smile: what are you going to to after that? how are you going to make living.
These are valid questions but what we seem to miss and where Ken Robinson makes a good case, is the fact that arts help us develop creativity. Stuff can be outsources or made for nothing but creativity will the thing which will help us realise our potential.
Now go buy crayons or drawing pencils, go to dance classes express yourself. See what are the effects.
What’s the problem with email?
Many people seem to be struggling with email, drowning in constant stream of messages.The simplest answer to that question is volume. The amount of email received daily exceeds people’s capacity for processing and reacting to them.However I think this answer is simply scratching the surface. There are three basic elements that contribute to the problem with email.
Equality
Anyone can send you an email message all they need to know is you address. I can send an email to anyone in the world no matter who they are provided I know their email address. There are no barriers in terms of access, special costs, permissions. Think of spam or so called unsolicited email, the reason we receive so much of it is the fact that someone with computer can send email messages to everyone. Every email message is equal, when emails are passing through the wires each message looks the same no matter what’s the content. Sure there are filters to block things we don’t want but this does not stop it and spam still forms 90% of email traffic.
Simplicity
Email is one of the simplest communication channels we have available. Just type the email address, content of your message and hit send. You’re done. Your message will be received in seconds, minutes at most. Getting access to email is plain and simple too, all you have to do is access one of major portals in your country and go through sign up process. Usually it takes three steps because email providers want to make it easy. It’s equally simple to communicate on one to one basis as to email dozens or thousands of people. All you need is their addresses.
Ubiquity
Thanks to recent technology advancements and popularisation of internet connected devices we can receive, read and write email anywhere. Our smartphones and tables periodically check for new messages to grab and alert us with a loud ping. Email knows no delivery hours, unlike standard post email can reach you at 1p.m. or 1a.m. regardless what you do or where you are. Email does not know any boundaries a message from Africa will be delivered to Europe in the same way as a message from South America to Australia. Email is not bound by platform restrictions and difference that’s why you can receive emails from a colleague that uses Linux, a family member using a Mac and you can respond to them using your Blackberry smartphone. All platforms can read and understand the which makes it truly system agnostic tool.
Circling back to the original question, the three elements above on the face of it the seem to be main offenders. One could think it should be possible to make it more difficult to send email or we should ban use of devices in some places. Unfortunately these three features of email make up exactly what it is now. A highly effective tool, available to millions that is easy to use and that be be accessed from any where.
Back to the Question
So where is the actual problem? I think it’s our behavior. Email is just a tool, a very useful one, if you consider all the benefits that it brings.There are many people preaching email bankruptcy or that we need new tools because email is broken. The problem comes from the fact the people abuse email, make it more difficult for and others to read and respond email. Put various expectation on it with out consideration for how other people function.
Try to think how you use email and how you can improve on it so it’s easier others. As much we can complain about email and how others misuse it, the power to change is in your hands. Change your own behavior. Let others learn from you.
Remember one last, thing the more email you send the more you receive.