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March 15, 2008
Step away from the inbox
A few times lately in GTD classes, people have asked me for recommendations on how often I process email. There are some approaches out there that suggest people only check email once a day. Sounds pretty extreme to me, especially if your world moves pretty fast and real work is getting done through email. I check email as often as I need to and at least once a day my Inbox is at zero. However, I do think stepping away from the constant stream of new input can be helpful, if not essential, to getting things done. Otherwise, it can be like standing in front of a fire hydrant with water blasting you in the face. You'll keep getting pelted until you step away from it.
Here are a few tips around processing email:
1. Only check email when you think you can process whatever you open to completion. Remember, deciding is not doing. Processing it to completion can mean you've decided your next action and parked that in a place you trust. It doesn't mean DO every email in your Inbox.
2. Give yourself offline time. For many of us these days, there's a constant stream of input. Even getting your Inbox to the holy grail of zero will only last until the next time you Send/Receive. Be willing to close your Inbox, go offline, turn off your Internet connection--whatever. I do this sometimes when I know the temptation of new stuff coming in will be too great and I'm trying to get some big project done, like writing or reviewing something that's outside of email. In Lotus Notes, you can change your location to "Island" mode to go offline. In Outlook, try File>Work Offline.
3. Get a general agreement going with your team about email response times. Is it within 15 minutes? 1 day? 1 month? I bet there are huge differences among your co-workers about the standard for replying to mail. Within our company, it's 24 hours on normal business days. Now, replying within 24 hours could just mean letting the sender know you got and you're on it--it doesn't always mean you've completed the action or whatever they're asking for.
There's also a new article I wrote for Coach's Corner about processing + organizing email.
Hope this helps.
Posted by Kelly at March 15, 2008 10:06 AM
Comments
Checking e-mail - is staying informed - that's it. I completely agree, that if you read your email, it does not mean you've completed the task. However, if the task emailed to you is a two minute action - than it's absolutely necessary to check your inbox all the time. The good thing about my company is that they've adopted Wrike (http://www.wrike.com)- a project management system, that never lets us forget about the important stuff. All the important emailed tasks are forwarded to Wrike and the system reminds us about due dates.
Posted by: Alan Au at March 17, 2008 08:17 AM
