Inbox Taming for Busy People
I’ve had my inbox at zero for over four weeks now ( Merlin Mann should be proud). I’ve learned that this helps my all around business processes, because to do this, I had to have a system to account for everything. The way I’ve managed it was a mix of David Allen’s Getting Things Done process, Stever Robbins’ You Are Not Your Inbox program, and simple figuring out what works and doesn’t work for me personally. I thought I’d share my process, in case it might be useful for you.
Basic Move: Have Three Addresses
I have three email addresses: one that I use for conducting general business, one for signing up for various web applications, and one for more important conversations. The first two, I don’t check all day long. I have a few scheduled dips in those boxes to see where things are, and to respond to inquiries. On one of those boxes, I used AwayFind to give people the sense that they can reach me if it’s urgent (so far, the only emails I get from the “urgent” form all say, “I just sent you email.” Grrrrrr!).
On the third email, that’s my business. And so I keep a little indicator light. I don’t read them immediately all the time and interrupt my flow, but I empty that box a few times a day.
Process Once I get Mail
I’ve noticed that I have a rapid flow. Here’s how it looks:
- Information only mail - absorb and delete.
- Information I need mail - copy a note into Evernote, which has web access and searching capabilities. Delete.
- Requests for help - analyze and respond. Delete (or store if I need a record).
- Mail from the boss - respond and store.
- “Generic” mail - automate variations on a response, and customize the important bits. Delete. Note: you probably never get the generics. I reserve them for blind PR pitches, weird software companies, etc.
- Scheduling and task request mail - right into Google Calendar. Tasks into a Google Docs spreadsheet. Web-accessible.
- To-do mail that’s bigger and long - copy/paste the request into Evernote, store the email address, save the mail.
If You Have 1000 Old Mails in the Box
Go through them 100 or so at a time with the above process. Don’t read the new ones. Just try working through 100 here and there. Schedule time on an egg-timer to take a whack at them. (If you want lots more advice on this area, check out You Are Not Your Inbox, which I really loved.)
I’ve kept my box clean for over four weeks, even when I’m out at conferences and on the road. It’s astounding just how this all works once you practice.
What about you? Any ideas and advice?
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Ten Tech Solutions To Improve Your Productivity
Social media takes up a good deal of time. Between reading blogs, visiting Twitter to check in with people, trips to Facebook and other social networks, the old tasks like keeping up with email and the like can be daunting. I’ve compiled a list of technology solutions that I thought might help you out. We can certainly add more ideas to the comments section.
Ten Tech Solutions To Improve Your Productivity
- Get a system. I’m listening to Stever Robbins, who just put together You Are Not Your Inbox, an audio program that will help you manage your email.
- Get a proxy. Try out Jared Goralnick’s Away Find. It helps you with a sort of virtual message manager.
- Practice keeping your inbox at zero. (I’ve explained how I tamed my inbox before.)
- Learn shortcuts. Here are keyboard shortcuts for Firefox, Safari, IE7, Gmail, Google Reader, and I’m sure you can find more.
- Cut down on your browsing. Lifehacker (and Julien Smith) pointed out Freedom, a Mac application. I’m sure there’s a PC version. See also Rescue Time
- Use computer shortcuts and launches. For Macs, it’s Quicksilver . For Windows, I found 10 Quicksilver alternatives listed here. (Disclaimer: I’m not good with Quicksilver. I use Spotlight still).
- Don’t read blogs directly from the website. At least not first. Start in a good feed reader. I prefer Google Reader. It’s fast, has keyboard shortcuts, and is flexible in letting me bookmark, share, and email posts that I find useful.
- Find extra time and use it. One way is to use Jott on your phone to send brief messages, to leave yourself reminders, and to take notes for future use.
- Set up text replacement. This lets you type a few letters and get back several words easily. For Macs, use TextExpander. For Windows, try Texter.
- Keep good notes. I’m enamored with EverNote. I’ve used it to outline documents, plan conference content, store small lists of email addresses, and even tried the optical recognition feature for photos. It’s worth checking out.
You probably have several other productivity applications to suggest. We can put together quite a list in the comments, if that works for you. What are you doing to stay more productive?
Photo credit, Freshwater2006
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How I Tamed My Inbox
Guess what? I finally cracked the nut on keeping my email inbox empty. The trick is all in what you do when you get them in. I’ll share what I did, and if it works for you, great. If it starts to fail for me, I’ll tell you so in another post. But I have a good feeling about this.
You’ll Need
- An archive folder (in Gmail, this is a button. On other systems, you need somewhere to store stuff, in case you need to search for details later).
- A calendaring software. I use Google Calendar.
- A project tracking software. I use Things for Mac. You could use anything lets you group projects into contexts.
- A file folder structure (online at least, and maybe mirrored in the real world - hat tip to my hero,Get it Done Guy, for this).
- Two processes: sorting when mail comes in, and reviewing your projects regularly.
Quick Overview
Next, I’ll explain how this all works together. I’ll talk about:
- Processing incoming mail.
- Using the Calendar.
- Project Structure.
- Consistent Review.
Processing Incoming Mail
Mail comes in- Check mail X times a day tops. (I’m trying for 4, but not there yet). When it comes in, see if you can just reply right away. Try to close all informational loops in one go. Points off for “ping pong” emails.
Process step 1- If it’s not a “right away” answer, sort it into a project area. I’m calling “project areas” out by context. In Getting Things Done, David Allen uses physical context, like @computer, @phone, @mall. In my case, I’ve used the following project contexts:
- Family/Home - my first priority, of course.
- Commitments - these are things where someone’s awaiting a response or action for me that takes more than a few minutes.
- Projects - These are more regimented things, like when the boss asks you to build out a new experience at a conference.
- Speaking - I do lots of speaking, and I want to keep my commitments straight, and my details sorted.
- Blogging - This has become where I stuff my “Hey, Chris. I have a social network about porcupines. Will you blog about it?” requests, so I can give them serious thought. (And yes, please feel free to contact me about your special amazing new whatever, if you think it fits the stuff I talk about here).
- Personal - This deals with things like “file your taxes” and “upgrade cell phone plan” which matter only to me.
- Research - I have lots of projects that are more for “rainy day” or “someday/maybe” so that’s where those go.
These are MY context areas. You could have completely different ones. More on projects in a bit.
Using the Calendar
If any of my projects are time specific, I put that information into Google Calendar. I then set up the reminders along the way. Further, if the project is large or lengthy, I set up little milestone time frames such that I will remember to work periodically on projects all the way up to their due date.
This part, the setting milestone reminders in the calendar, has changed my effectiveness, but I only JUST started doing this, so I’ll let you know if it makes the difference I hope it does.
Project Structure
UNDER my above-mentioned context areas are specific projects. For all my projects, I have tasks and milestones, notes, tags, and due dates for each part of the project. For example, I have notes and details on a new conference I’m launching for marketers for September in the Boston area.
Like I said earlier, I use Things for the Mac. You could use 37 Signals Basecamp, or MS Project, or whatever. The tool isn’t the point.
Consistent Review
This will all break down fast if I don’t focus on Things as my “go to place” to see what needs doing. And if I don’t make THAT the focus of my day while working on projects, and slip back into hounding my inbox, the whole thing will fail. You’ve heard that someone with two watches can’t tell time? I believe that someone with multiple systems of managing their tasks and projects will probably fall on their face.
I’ve scheduled reviews into Google Calendar recurring over the next few months. If it works, I’ll extend the schedule of little pings to check my responsibilities.
We’ll Check Back On This Later
This is a work in progress. I’ll let you know how it works out for me. In the mean time, tell me about you. How are YOU getting it all done? Does this make sense? Am I missing something obvious? How are you taming the savage project load?
By the way, Things doesn’t sync in any way with my BlackBerry and that’s a huge hole in this process. Hello? Could you fix that for me, Things? Anything?
Okay, what do YOU think?
For another completely different (and most likely better) method, check out the famed and touted Inbox Zero series by Merlin Mann.
The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.
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