The volume of email we receive is one
of the biggest productivity challenges that managers and their staff face.
Sorting through the daily deluge can consume an incredible amount of valuable
time that is much better spent elsewhere. The good news is that this is a solvable problem once you learn how to efficiently and effectively manage your everyday email communications.
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Don’t Constantly Check For Email
Just like planning other
important work activities during your day, schedule daily time for email. Depending
on your typical email activity, plan to look at your email only at a specific time
each day. For example, 30 minutes before lunch and 30 minutes before you end your
work day. As an alternative for high volume email recipients, only check your email at specific time intervals,
such as every two hours.
Read Only the Subject Matter
Learn to quickly discard
irrelevant or unimportant messages right away by reading the subject matter and
the sender’s name. You will likely purge more than half of incoming messages
this way. Then, you can more efficiently attend to the important email messages.
Practice “OHIO”
Only Handle
It Once. Immediately decide what to do with each email message. Answer the important ones quickly instead of filing them away. If you don’t, and
you later are ready to answer them, you’ll spend a lot of time searching
through folders to find the needed message.
Create Topical Folders
For messages that you must
keep for a period of time, store them in a folder that is not your “Inbox” or “Sent
Mail” folders. Name the folder based on your need, such as by customer name or product name. Once you conclude the nature of that business, delete those
messages, and even the folder.
Email Trivia: "Crackberry"
is a term used to describe the excessive use of checking email on a SmartPhone
(initially on a Blackberry device) by its owners, and is a reference to the unfortunate
addictive nature of crack cocaine. Use of the term "Crackberry"
became so widespread that in 2006 Webster's New World College Dictionary named
"Crackberry" the "New Word of the Year."
A Wonderful Reference: "NetiquetteIQ: A Comprehensive Guide to Improve, Enhance and Add Power to Your Email", by Paul Babicki.
David Schuchman
A Wonderful Reference: "NetiquetteIQ: A Comprehensive Guide to Improve, Enhance and Add Power to Your Email", by Paul Babicki.
David Schuchman