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October 13, 2008

Attacking the Email Monster

Email out of control?

Exploding email in-boxes are an ever-increasing source of suffering and frustration for today's knowledge workers. In my one-on-one coaching with clients I sometimes see daily email loads hitting 200-350 emails per day. How is anyone supposed to keep up with that!?

I've collected below several ideas for how to overcome email overwhelm. The ideas focus on the basics of how to manage an inbox, and the practices individuals can do to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the emails they send and receive.

The Basics of Email Processing
Consider that in order to stay in control of your emails you must regularly spend the necessary time to assess and define all the next actions and projects that may be sparked by them. Next time you process your email try the following tips:

- Don't leave an email in your in-box once you've define what needs to happen with it. For instance: if it's junk, trash it; if it's actionable, drag it to a "NEXT ACTIONS" folder or create a task on your task list with the email attached; if it's reference, get it to the appropriate email reference folder or create a new one. In other words, try to not let your in-box become an overwhelming collection of unclear open-loops dragging down your psyche. Close the loops as you empty your in-box - and yes, you can regularly get your in-box to zero!

- Use the Two-Minute rule. While processing your in-box, if an email is actionable and the action can be done in less than two minutes, do it right away. Why let the email pile up in your in-box or task list if you can do it that quickly? Consistently applying this rule will energize your email processing time and prevent days of procrastination.

Renegotiate with the Sources of Your Emails
Sometimes the reason an email in-box is overflowing is because the sources of the email have been allowed to grow unchecked. I don't know how many times I've seen clients dramatically cut their daily in-box total by 30-50% just by taking the time to renegotiate which emails actually get sent to them. In other words:

- Unsubscribe from newsletters, marketing messages, and team cc lists you no longer need to see.

- Use your junk mail feature to prevent future marketing messages from hitting your inbox.

- Create email rules to pre-process certain emails directly to reference folders if you know you'll never need to take action on them but want to keep them as available reference.

- Always look out for opportunities to unsubscribe from lists and renegotiate with senders of recurring emails you don't need.

- To cut down on pileup when you're traveling, use the "out-of-office" feature of your email, in addition to your voice mail, to notify people when you are traveling.

Create Clear Agreements About Email
Come to agreement with your teammates about how email is and is not to be used. For example, if there is no response requested or required, is an "I got it" email even required? Is everyone expected to respond to all emails within a certain number of hours or days, or not? Should a phone call or IM be used instead of email if the information is urgent? Working out these basic questions can save your team a lot of time and energy.

You might come to agreement about certain codes to use to assist each other in processing email. Certain acronyms used in subject lines can help teammates quickly identify action items and other important messages. Sample acronyms: "AR" = Action Required; "MSR" = Monthly Status Report.

Another very useful code is "EOM", which means End of Message. If the information you are sending can all fit on a single line of text on the subject line of the message why type it into the body? This allows your recipients to get your point without even opening the body of the email. Just end the subject line with "EOM" and make sure everyone on your team knows what that means. "NNB" is another example of the same thing: Nothing New Below.

Choose Recipients Wisely
When possible, try to limit the number of recipients on the "TO:" line to one. Send group mail only when it is really useful or required for all recipients. Use "reply-to-all" and "CC:" buttons sparingly. Come to an agreement with your teammates that being on the "CC:" line means that you're only being informed FYI and no response is necessary.

When an organization or team is plagued by emails with too many recipients in the "TO:" field, it is often an indication that there are not clear and separate roles and responsibilities defined among colleagues. This could be a symptom of a larger problem. If five people are sent a request and all are in the "TO:" line, it may not be quite clear who's really supposed to take action.

Be Courteous
Do your part to help your recipients understand and process your emails easier and faster. Remember that everyone will benefit from fewer, clearer emails in their in-boxes, including you. What goes around comes around.

- When forwarding a message or replying to all, take the time to change the subject line if the reason for the email has changed.

- If you are forwarding a long string of messages to someone new, briefly summarize the conversation so they don't have to read every bit of the trail.

- If you send a 20-page attachment, be specific and tell the recipient that the important information is on pages 2 and 17.

- Be thoughtful about large attachments, especially if your company culture is dependent on mobile email devices. Consider using a link to a folder on a shared network.

I know there must be more great email processing tips that I'm missing here. Please chime in and add to the knowledge (but don't send me an email! ;-)

Posted by mdolan at 11:25 AM | Comments (10)