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Inbox Zen
From KMWiki
Ever returned from two weeks holiday to several hundred (or thousand) emails?
A simple settings change and a macro later, those emails can disappear very quickly. By changing the way you approach email, you can churn through 100 emails in less than 10-15 minutes.
Keys to the approach are:
- Only review with email twice a day (turn off those email alerts)
- Setup outlook to allow "tagging" of emails
- Install the InboxZen macro (to be released at some stage)
- Setup folder mappings
- Manage tasks via todo lists rather than emails in folders
The approach does require some discipline. Fans of David Allen's "Getting things done" will love it.
Contents |
Review emails twice per day ONLY
Turn off alerts in Outlook. Email does probably not feature prominently in your job description, and you need time to think. If there is an emergency, people will phone you. Trust me on this one, killing the beeps and pop messages is something you want to do (unless of course you run a support desk or enquiry service) .
Using InboxZen I don't worry about missed emails because I see everything and decide what to do with every email, but I do it on my time, in line with my priorities. If my number one priority (and objective against which I'm measured for bonuses and promotions) is to deliver a new approach to company newsletters, why would I stop what I'm doing to answer a query that could wait several hours or frankly days? Gotta have your priorities in order.
Tag your emails
Email tagging is simple. Follow the steps described here to allow tagging of your inbox.
Any email that comes in, tag with an appropriate category name. I try to keep them small, and simple to type. Stuff about IT goes under "IT". I use the three letter acronym that describes my team for all administrative information. Projects get simple to remember shortnames.
InboxZen
The clouded mind sees nothing.
More to come
Map your common folders
More to come
Task management and prioritisation
More to come
