Do you need an Inbox makeover?
by oneafrikan on July 26, 2005
Merlin Mann writes about The inbox makeover, Secrets of Mac superheroes, which is a good read regardless of whether you’re a Machead or not.
I don’t think it’s a good tactic for me to create the “Respond” folder, ‘cos I get stuck in the trap of sending them and leaving them there. I’ve tried that and it’s not good for me. I prefer to put everything and anything that I have to deal with in my Inbox and process from there. Once it’s in my Inbox I try keep it “Unread” until I have read it, and when I read it I prefer to get it out of the way then and there – action, delete, archive, reply – all within 2 minutes. If it is going to take longer, then it stays in the Inbox until I can deal with it later.
Of course I don’t always get it right, and sometime have to prioritise that other stuff comes first, but as a general rule, since I’ve made this workflow my daily routine, email handling and processing has become much more efficient. Having an Inbox with nothing in it is a wonderful feeling.
Other than that, all great advice – go check it out.
Hat tip: Matt
2 comments
See, stuff like this is why I wish Gmail gave you the option of using labels, folders, or both.
His system seems nice, but I can see it getting clunky with labels.
by Josh on July 27, 2005 at 7:09 am. #
Yea – I spose it all depends on how much mail you get and process.
I delete more and more now, and it’s really made things a lot easier – only really keep mail that’s very NB (projects, people, details), transaction oriented, or something I know I want at read at a later stage – everything else I can either ask for, or talk about again ;-)
David Allen’s GTD software for OUtlook has also made a massive difference ;-)
by Gareth Knight on July 27, 2005 at 7:22 am. #