Newsletter #124 Six Tips to Manage the Email Overload

Created on Jul 7 2008 12:00AM

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Feature Article

More than anything else, email is the Internet technology that has totally transformed our work place communication processes. While email is hugely beneficial, if used efficiently, email overload has become a major issue.

According to researchers US office workers spend 28% of their time switching between tasks due to interruption and 40% of the time, an interrupted task is not resumed within 24 hours. The majority of these interruptions are email-related. This “cogitus interruptus” is very bad for workplace efficiency as Peter Drucker wrote 40 years ago: “To be effective, every knowledge worker, and especially every executive, therefore needs to be able to dispose of time in fairly large chunks.”

Part of the problem is that we want to be connected and exist in a zone of “continuous partial attention” according to Linda Stone a software executive who has worked for both Apple and Microsoft. This feeling can actually be a positive one in that the constant pinging makes us feel needed.

So how do you handle this email-driven information overload?

1. Have an email checking schedule say every hour or twice a day rather than checking constantly. Turn off the alerts to reduce distractions. If you have emails you must see immediately or people you must respond to straightaway, setup mail rules so you are alerted only when they are received.
   
   
2. Don’t reply immediately to emails. Batch the sending of your replies and ensure your first batch is around 10-11am so that you have had time to accomplish some meaningful work beforehand. To let others know, add a note to your email signature. “I normally reply at or around 11am, 2pm and 5pm on business days.”
   
   
3. Emails can multiply without achieving anything concrete. Once a decision generates more than a total of four-five emails in a thread, someone needs to pick up the phone to resolve it.
   
   
4. When you’re writing an email propose solutions rather than asking for them. For example if you are trying to setup a meeting, write: “Can I suggest that we meet to discuss? I’m free on the following mornings next week (9-12): Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. We could meet at Starbucks just down the road from you?” rather than “Do you think we should get together to discuss?”
   
   
5. Before you start writing your email make sure you have a clear idea of what problem you want to solve and what you want to achieve. Emails with an unclear purpose are time wasters and normally need clarification from all parties which generates multiple back and forth email volume.
   
   
6. If you don’t want to be sending emails at weekends and after hours then don’t reply to emails during that period – better still leave your email off. It just raises the expectation that you are always available. If you want to send an email “Before I forget”, write it and save it as a draft to be sent during one of your business hour batches.

Managing the email overload can be one of the most productive changes you can make within an office environment. Try the six tips above and see!

Hot Tips

Newbies

Looking for ways to share documents with people that you don't have on your office or home network? Check out Google Docs http://docs.google.com/. Once you have signed up you can create word processing documents, spreadsheets and presentations online. Once they are created you can share them with anyone you want. In a similar vein, share your busy schedule by using Google Calendar http://www.google.com/calendar.

Power Users

Google Calendar mentioned above can be used as a sophisticated way of creating and sharing content. These calendars can be imbedded into Webpages, you can include your events in Public Event Searches, let people save an individual event from your site and much more. To check out the possibilities and ways of using the Google Calendar API go here: http://code.google.com/apis/calendar/

Interesting Sites

The Wayback Machine is a project by the Internet Archive, a non-profit organisation, to make sure the Internet and other digital material doesn't totally disappear into the past. If you go to http://www.archive.org/web/web.php you can type in the Web address of a site you want to check the history of. The results can be quite fascinating and you'll realise how far the Web has come in just over a decade!

InsiteFul Quotes

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." Abraham Lincoln

You can see our other Quick Quotes on the front page of www.netinsites.com; just refresh the page to see another one randomly selected from our database. Great for presentations or times when you want to appear to be a techno-dude(ss)!

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Best wishes

Alex Garden

Internet Strategy | Website Design | Website Promotion | Web Text Messaging | Email Newsletters | Online Sports Games | Content Management