How to Love Your Email Again: Inbox-Zero via GTD

“ A c h i e v i n g I n b o x - Z e r o u s i n g G T D ”

Mukom Akong T. @perfexcellent

How to

Love  Email  Again

Spotting Email dysfunction

Root causes of EmailitisBette

r Email p

ractices

Inbo

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Agenda!

Tip

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Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |

You know these “-itises”

3

Arthriti

sHepatiti

s

Gastritis

But … what about this?

e.mail.it.is |ee-mayl-eye-tis| (noun)

1. a productivity-draining inflammation of

electronic mail.

2. Overblowing the importance of email as

a productivity tool.

121Average number of emails received per person per day in 2014

(source: Radicati Group)

$1 billion/yrCost of lost productivity due to email overload for firms with 50,000+

employees

@perfexcellent

Symptoms2How to recognise the

of Emailitis

Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |

Symptom #1: Sustained high un-read mail count

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957

Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |

Symptom #2: The cocktail ‘Inbox’

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•Read and unread emails •Starred and un-starred emails •Labelled and un-labelled emails

… all deserve equal amounts of attention??!!

Symptom #3:

Email ‘organised’ in over 20 folders

Dividing an ‘incomplete pile of unclear stuff’ into several folders doesn’t help clarify them! - STOP

Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |

Symptom #4: Your response to a computer crash

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$#@& God No!!

my email!!!

Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |

Symptom #5: Email is the subject of conflict!

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Root Causes3Exposing the

of Emailitis

Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |

Emailitis results from email misuse

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Project Management

Email is a LOUSY tool for these!

Brainstorming Doc. Collaboration

Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |

Use these tools instead of email

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Project Management Brainstorming Doc. Collaboration

Trello

Jira

Asana Mediawiki

Post-It

Freemind

Mediawiki

Google Drive

Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |

The’re often better ways than email!

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TASK SOME MORE EFFECTIVE TOOLS

Project Management

Collaborative Project Management System e.g.

• Jira

• Trello

• Asana

Brainstorming

• Meet for 1 hour & use Post-It notes

• Mindmap apps e.g Freemind, Wisemapping

• Wiki e.g. confluence, mediawiki

Document collaboration

• Google Drive (Docs, Sheets, Slides)

• Use “Track Changes” feature of Office apps

• Etherpad

Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |

The’re often better ways than email!

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@perfexcellent

Practices3Better

for dealing with email

Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |

Only 5 things matter about email

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Unread

Read (Action needed from someone)

Read (Action needed)

Sent by you (Response Expected)

Read (Reference Info)

Inbox

Action

WaitingReference

Everything Else

You NEED only 5 + 1 ‘folders’

Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |

Meet your new ‘Inbox’

•ESSENTIAL & UNREAD mails

•Auto-filter out non-essentials: ①Mailing lists ②Social media notifications ③Newsletters ④Promotions etc

•Empty every day (Inbox Zero)

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Inbox

Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |

‘Action’ folder

•Mails that need 2+ minutes

•What to do with it? ①Reply (long responses) ②Process into tasks (ToDo list)

•Remove treated mails

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Action

Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |

‘Waiting’ folder

•Mails you sent (or forwarded)

•Usually means ‘delegated’

•You expect a response/update

•Send reminder(s)

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Waiting

Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |

‘Reference’ folder

•Mails you’ve already read

•Contain important information to be referenced in the future

•What to do with it? ①Print and file (old school :-() ②Forward to Evernote

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Reference

Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |

‘Everything Else’ folder

Non-essential unread mail • Mailing lists • Social media updates • Promotions etc

What to do with it?

•Scan twice/thrice a week

•Move interesting to Action/Reference as needed

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Waiting

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Inbox-Zero4Getting to

GTD-style

Recall: GTD Workflow

(c) David Allen

Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |

Inbox-Zero workflow

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Auto SORT

Process Organize DO

Filters Rules

What ACTION does this mail require?

Tracking Referencing

Long replies Tasks

ActionReference

Action? By Me?<= 2 mins

?

Respond NOW

Inbox

Archives

Mailing Lists

New mail

Referential?

Waiting

YESNO

NO

YES

YES

NO

NO

YES

Auto-Filters

Processing EmailMukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent

Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |

Processing Email: The 2 Minute Rule

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2 minutes

Move to “Action” folderRespond now

Remove from Inbox

Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |

Inbox Zero implementation in Gmail

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@perfexcellent

Tips & Tricks5Some

from the field

Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |

Some of my email tactics

① Disable notifications!

② NEVER start your day with email

③ Break #2 if email is your big rock for that day

④ Do email 2 or 3 times per day

⑤ Close email client at other times

⑥ Keep work and personal email separate

⑦ Delete mail that’s not reference or actionable

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Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |

Settings for Gmail

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• Use labels to categorise • Use filters to skip inbox • “Unread” is my Inbox (only non-junk)

Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |

Settings for Apple Mail

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• Rename flags to desired statuses • Use Use filters to skip inbox • “GTD-Inbox” is my Inbox (only non-junk) • Use Smart Mailboxes to hold tagged messages • Drag Smart Mailboxes to create toolbar • Hide Mailboxes sidebar for clean look

Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |

Settings for Thunderbird

① Create tags |-Action-| , |-Waiting-| etc

② Use QuickFolders add-on to create tabs of

the for each of the above tabs

③ Used “Saved Search” to configure my

buckets “Inbox”, “Action” , “Reference”,

“Monitor”

④ Switch to a view that Hides Folder

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Work; email is NOT. Tool; it is. Wisely; use it thou shall!

Else to the Dark side; take you; email will.

A

N

W

E

R

S

Q U E S T I O N S

mukom.tamon@gmail.com @perfexcellent