Managing the Overflowing Inbox
The ‘Two Minute Rule’ of effective email management is discussed on E-Business Live.
With the increasing dominance of email, many people feel swamped and distracted by the ever-advancing tide of messages.
Inboxes that are never empty, messages that seem to disappear and emails left un-replied to, are commonplace signs of being overwhelmed by mail.
Below are some strategies and tricks that can help you quickly and competently process messages, keeping communication flowing and business moving.
Two Minute Rule
Most email management experts advocate a two-minute rule - any email that can be dealt with inside this time period should be processed there and then. That might mean deleting irrelevant messages, archiving email that does not need a reply, forwarding messages to a colleague better placed to answer, or firing off a simple, quick response.
Templates
It's estimated that 80 percent of email traffic involves sending and re-sending the same five to ten email messages again and again. Email productivity author Merlin Mann recommends using email programs' template functionality to avoid constantly re-typing the same basic responses.
Such templates can be quickly modified to individual cases and are perfect for simple customer or client queries or for basic thanks (or no thanks) responses.
Action Or Waiting
Rather than leaving pending emails hanging around in your inbox, it makes sense to move them to a dedicated folder which then forms your email 'to-do list'.
Getting Things Done (GTD) workplace productivity thinker David Allen advocates using two such folders - one entitled 'action' and the other 'waiting for'. Messages in the 'action' folder can be worked on once you are free, while those in the 'waiting for' group can be completed when the relevant information or details have been found.
Regulate
Most people's email programs now check for new mail every two minutes, but Mann argues that not all staff need to be so precisely up to the minute. Others will find it more productive to have new email arrive in a bunch, perhaps once every hour. These messages can then be processed and organised together, saving time and avoiding the need (or temptation) for constant flicking back and forth between applications.
Time yourself
Anyone dealing with email overload can easily feel overwhelmed and begin to procrastinate. To avoid this, email guru Christopher S. Penn recommends the '10-2-5' time management method, whereby you concentrate just on email for ten minutes straight, then reward yourself with a two minute break, perhaps to read a news story or get a glass of water, before attacking the next ten minute chunk of work. Repeat this process five times before taking a longer break.
Spam control
Unwanted messages clogging up your inbox is a surefire productivity killer. So it is worth regularly monitoring spam settings and ensuring anti-virus systems remain up to date.Routing work email through a second system - perhaps Google's Gmail - can add a useful extra filtering layer.
Personal Versus Professional
Email newsletters announcing airfare offers or cinema listings should only arrive in personal inboxes. Most workers now have separate personal and professional email accounts, but some messages from one category will inevitably end up in the other inbox, while some email communications will straddle both.
Companies will want their staff to concentrate on professional email. However, implementing a few designated windows daily for dealing with personal messages will help ensure staff concentrate fully on work emails outside these times.
Source: E- Business Live