Email comes in "three flavors," irrelevant, relevant but not actionable, and actionable. Irrelevant includes spam and "reply all" notes from colleagues. Second is relevant but not actionable. Stuff that you need to scan or know about, that you might even save somewhere or archive or have on hand. The third is actionable that is work related. It can come from a variety of sources, like a boss or a client.
Forbes recommends deleting irrelevant emails immediately. The second group, of relevant but not actionable emails, they advise moving to an archive folder. Most email programs allow you to move e-mails into a folder outside your inbox.
Now you're down to the emails that need your action, that constitute work. Move those out of the inbox, too, into a digital "to-do" folder. There is even designed an online product that helps you do this, called Good Todo. You can use the free trial or pay $3 a month for the deluxe version.
The inbox was not designed to be a to-do list, a note pad, an address book, or a filing system. "It's only appropriate to be used for one thing," Forbes insists, "temporary storage."
Article by Susan Adams, Forbes.com
1 comment:
I love the post. It's very similar to the one found on this New Jersey IT consulting firm's site though. May want to change that up a bit, or add some of the other stuff they mention. Everyone needs to know how to manage their inbox properly.
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