Clarifying your e mail management system
- 1. Reviewing your CURRENT ‘E-mail Management System’ Questions for you to consider… How much time do I usually spend on e-mails in an average day? How frequently do I check my e-mails? How many e-mails do I receive in an average day? What is my average ‘response time’ for e-mails? Does it vary from person to person? In what sequence do I check my mails (top-down, bottom-up, critical mails first etc.) What is the e-mail ‘goal’ I want to achieve at the end of each day?
- 2. Clarifying your NEW E-mail Management System Topic My system E-Mail handling approach In what sequence will I read my e-mails? (e.g. top-down, hunt & peck the important ones etc.) How will I handle each e-mail, in order to achieve the ‘Zero Inbox’ target? Note: Recommended to clear your Inbox going ‘top-down’ on your e- mails. Apply one of the five action options: Delete, File, Delegate, Do, or Defer, to each e-mail E-mail Response time What will my average e-mail response time be? Will it vary depending on the sender of the e- mail? (E.g. line manager) Note: Consider how slow you can afford to be without creating a crisis! Frequency of checking e-mails How frequently will I check e-mails? E.g. continuously, once in 15 mins, once per hour etc. Will this vary at different points of time? E.g. do I need to check e-mails more frequently at high pressure times during the quarter Decide your ‘cut-off time’ for the day for getting to a Zero Inbox? (e.g. you are at a Zero Inbox as long as you have cleared all e-mails that came in until 4pm that day) Note: Consider keeping your mails ‘offline’ when you are not reading them, so that you are able to reduce distractions. Also, if there are any e- mails still in your Inbox that were received after the cut-off time, leave them for tomorrow!