A Note on Email Management
Overall the strategy is a variation on inbox zero and it hinges on a couple of assumptions
My philosophy on email starts with the notion that emails arrive when the sender wants you to receive them, not when they’re relevant to you.
Getting Things Done (GTD) Flowchart: A Complete Guide
Labeling
Gmail has the concept of labels, while Outlook has folders. I prefer Gmail and labels, but this applies to Outlook’s folders as well.
I have filters established so labels are applied automatically based on the email domain of the senders and recipients, as well as internal mailing lists, and other rules. Label coverage should be complete enough that the vast majority of emails landing in your inbox should be automatically labeled.
Auto-labelling of emails reduces the work required to keep archived emails properly sorted. This allows quick recall of emails containing important information (but no action items) after they’ve been archived.
Workflow
I frequently send myself emails with “to do” list items so my email contains a complete list of everything I need to do. These notes-to-self get treated like any other email in the flow below.
I try to read emails immediately on receipt. I don’t necessarily address them right away, but I categorize it into one of the following groups.
- Emails I want to address today. These stay in my inbox.
- Anything not relevant today. These get snoozed until the day I want to address it.
- Any email that doesn’t contain require action. These gets (labeled then) archived.
Any item that I don’t finish by the end of the day gets snoozed until tomorrow (or later).
The goal is to have an empty inbox by the end of the day. Then all your action items for the next day will resurface to the top of your inbox in the morning.
This keeps your inbox relevant to what you’re working on and ensures it’s a complete list of items that need to get done today.
It has been an effective way for me to stay organized and ensures i don’t miss things.