After yesterdays posting about visions for a social workplace I stumbeld upon Kevin Rose´s tips to get rid of the email problem:
#5: Add a http://three.sentenc.es/ email signature and keep them short.
“Treat all email responses like SMS text messages, using a set number of letters per response. Since it’s too hard to count letters, we count sentences instead.
three.sentenc.es is a personal policy that all email responses regardless of recipient or subject will be three sentences or less. It’s that simple.”
Example signature:
——————————————–
Q: Why is this email three sentences or less?
A: http://three.sentenc.es
——————————————–#4: Type “Sent from iPhone” under your short responses. People don’t expect long responses when you’re on your phone. Don’t forget to mispell a few words.
This all looks graet +1!!
Sent from iPhone.#3: Create a ‘VIP’ filter. Add your boss, investors, and close friends. Flag them red and throw them in a separate folder. This is the first place I check every morning.
#2: (Gmail only) Keep the spam out. If you’re giving your address to a potentially shady website, tack on +spam to the end, example: yourname+spam@gmail.com. You can then filter those emails into a spam folder you check periodically. (ProTip: the +spam is a variable that can be anything you want, eg. yourname+football@gmail.com etc., make as many as you like)
#1: (Apple Mail or similar program) Setup an email bankruptcy filter. This is a little bit of a dick move, but if you’re getting hundreds of new emails a day, it just might work.
Step 1: Create a filter that auto-responds to all unopened emails > 14 days old w/the following message:
Your email (below) is now 14 days old and has not been opened. To minimize email buildup your email has now been placed in the archive. Should you still require a response simply respond back and you’ll automatically be added to the priority queue. Thank you.
Step 2: Setup another filter that looks for the text “Your email (below)”, this will catch the email responses back to you from those still requiring your response. Filter these into a special folder you check and respond to daily.
Reminds me of an article I wrote back in 2004. After returning from vacation the CEO deleted all the unread mails in his inbox and stated: “who really needs a response to his mail calls me or will write a letter”.