Email can be an enormous time sink. Here are three steps I took to remove unnecessary email from my in-box and recover previously wasted time.
Stop Email at the Source
Make sure your staff only send you email that requires you to make a decision, provide input, provide direction, or answer a question. This change alone may halve the volume of email you typically receive. You may opt to receive project status communications too. Just be clear that "I am doing xyz" is not a project status. That statement is an obligatory implication that you approve what they are doing or you will reply indicating you do not. Don't fall in that trap.
Put an End to Broadcasting
Broadcasting vacation plans is a horrible use of email. Those broadcasts might be read, will definitely be deleted, and most likely forgotten. You might as well broadcast bathroom and coffee breaks too. Those emails are simply noise that pollute your in-box and obscure otherwise meaningful information.
Leverage your common calendaring system instead. Block your vacation time in your calendar and empower your co-workers with read access. If they want to know where you are, they can look for themselves.
Choose the Right Medium
Geographically disparate groups of people often need to discuss a topic. Does email really need to be the medium for that discussion? There are a plethora of alternate communication tools including instant messaging and web conferencing. How about a conference call using the phone?
Just the Facts
Your on the right track to email productivity when your in-box is used solely for communication regarding facts. If it's not a fact, it's spam.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=3e499d73-0f37-44f1-9470-7fc020f2f3c1)
Make sure your staff only send you email that requires you to make a decision, provide input, provide direction, or answer a question. This change alone may halve the volume of email you typically receive. You may opt to receive project status communications too. Just be clear that "I am doing xyz" is not a project status. That statement is an obligatory implication that you approve what they are doing or you will reply indicating you do not. Don't fall in that trap.
Put an End to Broadcasting
Broadcasting vacation plans is a horrible use of email. Those broadcasts might be read, will definitely be deleted, and most likely forgotten. You might as well broadcast bathroom and coffee breaks too. Those emails are simply noise that pollute your in-box and obscure otherwise meaningful information.
Leverage your common calendaring system instead. Block your vacation time in your calendar and empower your co-workers with read access. If they want to know where you are, they can look for themselves.
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Geographically disparate groups of people often need to discuss a topic. Does email really need to be the medium for that discussion? There are a plethora of alternate communication tools including instant messaging and web conferencing. How about a conference call using the phone?
Just the Facts
Your on the right track to email productivity when your in-box is used solely for communication regarding facts. If it's not a fact, it's spam.
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