I'm willing to lend some advice and help out. I had an IT job where I had to respond to every single email and delegate tasks doing customer support and remote support. I received over 400 legit emails a day. Through that, I developed systems to manage this email. It's not impossble and inbox zero can be a solution. According to wakoopa, I spend 12.5 hours every day actively clicking my computer mouse. If I was on the computer any less, I would get behind on email. So although I have a system, I still live in outlook or mail.app 4 hours a day. It's just how it is.
I don't blame you for not getting back to me but I do take it personally but you're one of hundreds a people a month that don't respond to my emails. A solution will come but for now it just takes more time.
MG Siegler
· 4 months ago
Right, you manage it now, but my point is that with email continually increasing, eventually you will reach a point where you would need to spend more hours a day in front of the computer then there are hours in a day.
adamjackson
· 4 months ago
I don't doubt that you get tons of email but time is the only solution once you are organized. Scott Beale actually has an FAQ on his site and will respond to emails linking to that because he gets many of the same questions.
There are always ways to optimize our email time. I think you and others can begin discovering those methods and sharing with others. There's value to email organization and people will soak it up.
Do you think you're spending 4 hours a day on email or less? Is bacn properly managed? Are there rules setup for emails coming from techcrunch.com domains to get special labels and stuff from your mom going to it's own folder?
I have a folder for emails from addresses that aren't bacn and aren't in my address book so I know they're a lower priority. There are things we can do to make it easier but I'm with you in saying email was my job before and 400 emails was a 10 hour a day job. Even when I was organized. So yeah at a point humans just can't be awake 24 hours a day to get every email that comes in.
Jay Cuthrell
· 4 months ago
When I started on the concept for "Too Much Text" (http://fudge.org/too-much-text/) before SxSW 2009, I had a vague notion that people might attend the talk. When the room filled up I figured that was a good sign. When the room filled to the point of people sitting on the floor when we ran out of chairs I figured it was a bad sign --- i.e. a bad sign that I was picking up on something.
This year I'm proposing a follow up discussion that will shape to fit what you've outlined here: Google Wave is a new hope for the failed Inbox. Two of the panelists last year were Nutshellmail (timed digests of Facebook/Twitter/etc. updates) and Otherinbox (targeted version of your multi-inboxes approach) and both represented the struggle to tame or , frankly, abandon the Inbox. This year I'm hoping to see if some clever startups want to be a part of this latest "too much text" discussion.
One thing I've noticed since reading your post is how many filters I have on my personal and work Gmail accounts. Then there is my shell account email. Then there is my Facebook email box. Then there is my... you get the picture.
That said...
I've addressed this issue of "responding to everything" within companies I've worked for where we maintained large mailing lists for systems and network engineers. i.e. every email becomes a ticket, and the ticket MUST be touched and MUST be closed to the satisfaction of the sender.... What we learned? After you reply and return with a request for followup or clarification, a large number of these /important/ emails simply were never touched again by the original sender. Dialog was abandoned by the sender. It was very much like a volley or flurry of emails coming in that were never really more than a passing thought. Of course, since I'm always painfully aware of the potential for filtering issues, spam flagging false positives, and generally assuming the sender has the same Inbox hell as those they interact with -- we followed up with calls.
Painful? You bet -- kinda kills the whole notion of an email culture. Important? Yes. These are paying customers. Closure is making whole. Being whole is finding closure.
The dilemma seems to be when you know the email is important or requires action but it isn't a truly economically charged relationship -- or prior explicitly determined economically charged relationship.
Perhaps emails should come with a escalator payment scheme tied to Paypal. Respond to email faster and you get credits towards a future purchase... you know, of some new toy that let's you keep email in your pocket when you access to a network.
MG Siegler
· 4 months ago
love the escalator payment idea. turn email into a game, it's not unlike something i've been thinking about recently...
Johny Miric
· 4 months ago
I must say that I don't have that kind of problem but I guess i'm in different type of business than you. Your job is based on fast and correct information and the challenge is to handle it.
First solution which comes to my mind is that for example Tech Crunch hires one or two people to go trough those emails and try to sieve something useful for you.
I know its dodgy system, and these people have to be very responsible and on same frequency as you guys but this is what usually good PA-s are, they make certain decisions even without their boss because there is no other way.
MG Siegler
· 4 months ago
heh i like that idea, my own assistant! sadly, one day, it may come to that.
Matt Ranney
· 4 months ago
For me, IZ is about managing the expectations of people who send me email. It doesn't change how many emails you can respond to, but it keeps both sender and receiver happier about the whole process.
MG Siegler
· 4 months ago
but my point is that if email influx continues to increase, will your system still work? i was working within a similar system for a while, but recently it has become untenable.
dangrossman
· 4 months ago
When Skynet goes online, artificial intelligence will be able to respond to most of our mails for us.
Sean Percival
· 4 months ago
This is why I usually send tips via DM, I want you to actually find them :)
All Comments
I don't blame you for not getting back to me but I do take it personally but you're one of hundreds a people a month that don't respond to my emails. A solution will come but for now it just takes more time.
There are always ways to optimize our email time. I think you and others can begin discovering those methods and sharing with others. There's value to email organization and people will soak it up.
Do you think you're spending 4 hours a day on email or less? Is bacn properly managed? Are there rules setup for emails coming from techcrunch.com domains to get special labels and stuff from your mom going to it's own folder?
I have a folder for emails from addresses that aren't bacn and aren't in my address book so I know they're a lower priority. There are things we can do to make it easier but I'm with you in saying email was my job before and 400 emails was a 10 hour a day job. Even when I was organized. So yeah at a point humans just can't be awake 24 hours a day to get every email that comes in.
This year I'm proposing a follow up discussion that will shape to fit what you've outlined here: Google Wave is a new hope for the failed Inbox. Two of the panelists last year were Nutshellmail (timed digests of Facebook/Twitter/etc. updates) and Otherinbox (targeted version of your multi-inboxes approach) and both represented the struggle to tame or , frankly, abandon the Inbox. This year I'm hoping to see if some clever startups want to be a part of this latest "too much text" discussion.
One thing I've noticed since reading your post is how many filters I have on my personal and work Gmail accounts. Then there is my shell account email. Then there is my Facebook email box. Then there is my... you get the picture.
That said...
I've addressed this issue of "responding to everything" within companies I've worked for where we maintained large mailing lists for systems and network engineers. i.e. every email becomes a ticket, and the ticket MUST be touched and MUST be closed to the satisfaction of the sender.... What we learned? After you reply and return with a request for followup or clarification, a large number of these /important/ emails simply were never touched again by the original sender. Dialog was abandoned by the sender. It was very much like a volley or flurry of emails coming in that were never really more than a passing thought. Of course, since I'm always painfully aware of the potential for filtering issues, spam flagging false positives, and generally assuming the sender has the same Inbox hell as those they interact with -- we followed up with calls.
Painful? You bet -- kinda kills the whole notion of an email culture.
Important? Yes. These are paying customers. Closure is making whole. Being whole is finding closure.
The dilemma seems to be when you know the email is important or requires action but it isn't a truly economically charged relationship -- or prior explicitly determined economically charged relationship.
Perhaps emails should come with a escalator payment scheme tied to Paypal. Respond to email faster and you get credits towards a future purchase... you know, of some new toy that let's you keep email in your pocket when you access to a network.
First solution which comes to my mind is that for example Tech Crunch hires one or two people to go trough those emails and try to sieve something useful for you.
I know its dodgy system, and these people have to be very responsible and on same frequency as you guys but this is what usually good PA-s are, they make certain decisions even without their boss because there is no other way.