The Most Productive Email Workflow I've Ever Had
About 4 years ago, I read a book called Getting Things Done by David Allen (NOTE: whenever you see the phrase "I read a book," it's usually safe to assume this really means "I listened to an audiobook"). I read [listen to] a lot of productivity literature because I occasionally get some small piece of wisdom that sticks with me and benefits me for years thereafter.
In the case of David Allen's book--written in 2001--the wisdom that persisted was with regard to my email workflow. Interestingly, David Allen was not even discussing email but regular [snail] mail. But the advice works even better with email than with physical mail. I'm very grateful to have been exposed to the philosophy and have felt a bit of a burden to share it with my friends ever since.
So here it is...
KEEP YOUR INBOX EMPTY
It's much more practical and effective than you might think. Here is the workflow:
A few times each day (perhaps every time you're in front of a computer), go through your inbox and move/archive EVERYTHING (note: you can also do this easily on your phone of course). Here are the three things that you can do with any email:
1. If the email is spam or informational only, you can archive or delete it (after--or instead of--reading it).
2. If it requires you to take action, and you can take action in less than 2 minutes, just do it. (e.g. if someone asks for your opinion about something and you can tell him concisely in a quick reply, just send the reply then archive the message)
3. If it requires you to take action, and it will take longer than 2 minutes to act on this email (perhaps reading an online article or responding to a proposal), move it into your "ACTION" folder (or label).
Each time new emails come in, take one of these three actions immediately. This process should be very fast. You should be able to empty your inbox in 3-10 minutes per day.
Then, whenever you are ready to work, just go to your action emails folder (something you might be able to work on at some point each workday or a few times per day), and start with the oldest emails and work your way to the newest. If there's something that is more urgent, perhaps put a star on it so you will know to do that first. But ultimately, the goal should be to empty the ACTION emails folder frequently (perhaps get to the bottom of it once per month or so). But even if it's never fully emptied, you should stay on top of it. In other words, you should be able to keep a queue of one week (or one month if that's more fitting in your case) or less on any emails that are in there. Don't let any emails get to be more than a week/month old without acting on them.
With this workflow, my colleagues are confident that if they have sent me something, they don't need to remind me again. It will get acted on (and/or responded to) and never forgotten. It doesn't get buried in an ever-growing inbox but instead becomes a natural higher priority as time passes.
This also works beautifully for sending tasks to myself! If I know that I want to look into buying a life insurance policy, I'll send myself an email at the moment that i'm thinking about it. Then that email gets put into the ACTION emails folder. Then when it becomes the oldest thing in that folder (because everything else was done), then there will be rising pressure to actually send the email to my life insurance agent and start the process. Once i've started the process, i can archive that email and move on to the other ones. Then when my agent replies and asks me to fill out this form, I have a new email that goes into the ACTION emails folder, and I am guaranteed to eventually get to it without forgetting. It's consistent, reliable, and easy to implement.
I have been using this workflow for about 4 years or so now, and of all the productivity tricks I've ever learned, this one has been my favorite by a long shot.
Hope this helps someone else like it has me!
In the case of David Allen's book--written in 2001--the wisdom that persisted was with regard to my email workflow. Interestingly, David Allen was not even discussing email but regular [snail] mail. But the advice works even better with email than with physical mail. I'm very grateful to have been exposed to the philosophy and have felt a bit of a burden to share it with my friends ever since.
So here it is...
KEEP YOUR INBOX EMPTY
It's much more practical and effective than you might think. Here is the workflow:
A few times each day (perhaps every time you're in front of a computer), go through your inbox and move/archive EVERYTHING (note: you can also do this easily on your phone of course). Here are the three things that you can do with any email:
1. If the email is spam or informational only, you can archive or delete it (after--or instead of--reading it).
2. If it requires you to take action, and you can take action in less than 2 minutes, just do it. (e.g. if someone asks for your opinion about something and you can tell him concisely in a quick reply, just send the reply then archive the message)
3. If it requires you to take action, and it will take longer than 2 minutes to act on this email (perhaps reading an online article or responding to a proposal), move it into your "ACTION" folder (or label).
Each time new emails come in, take one of these three actions immediately. This process should be very fast. You should be able to empty your inbox in 3-10 minutes per day.
Then, whenever you are ready to work, just go to your action emails folder (something you might be able to work on at some point each workday or a few times per day), and start with the oldest emails and work your way to the newest. If there's something that is more urgent, perhaps put a star on it so you will know to do that first. But ultimately, the goal should be to empty the ACTION emails folder frequently (perhaps get to the bottom of it once per month or so). But even if it's never fully emptied, you should stay on top of it. In other words, you should be able to keep a queue of one week (or one month if that's more fitting in your case) or less on any emails that are in there. Don't let any emails get to be more than a week/month old without acting on them.
With this workflow, my colleagues are confident that if they have sent me something, they don't need to remind me again. It will get acted on (and/or responded to) and never forgotten. It doesn't get buried in an ever-growing inbox but instead becomes a natural higher priority as time passes.
This also works beautifully for sending tasks to myself! If I know that I want to look into buying a life insurance policy, I'll send myself an email at the moment that i'm thinking about it. Then that email gets put into the ACTION emails folder. Then when it becomes the oldest thing in that folder (because everything else was done), then there will be rising pressure to actually send the email to my life insurance agent and start the process. Once i've started the process, i can archive that email and move on to the other ones. Then when my agent replies and asks me to fill out this form, I have a new email that goes into the ACTION emails folder, and I am guaranteed to eventually get to it without forgetting. It's consistent, reliable, and easy to implement.
I have been using this workflow for about 4 years or so now, and of all the productivity tricks I've ever learned, this one has been my favorite by a long shot.
Hope this helps someone else like it has me!
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