It is not uncommon to be inundated with tons of emails. Two weeks of a relaxing vacation, lack of good communication management in the project or may be a crisis in the project will lead us to such a situation. I am sure, each one of us would have our own ways of coming out of this temporary mess. Here’s what I do, not just on during an email flood, but on a day to day basis to keep my inbox managed.
I start looking at the emails sorted by conversation. So that I can quickly get the context of the email threads. If the email is such that I can respond quickly (in two minutes or less), I immediately respond to the thread. Responding quickly involves either replying to the email, delegating this to the right person, or even deleting the email if it not important. If the content is such that I cannot respond to it in less than 2 minutes, I will mark them with a category “Yet To Respond”. I respond to such emails, later, in my own time.
The other most important thing while managing emails is to ensure we follow up on emails. On a typical day, we send out many emails, but may lose track of the the things we are expecting a response for. So, whenever I send an email, I update the Category “Waiting for Response” for that sent email.
Now, at the end of this exercise,
- I will have a list of things that I need to respond to (that which needs my action)
- I will have a list of things that I am waiting for a response
I have been using this for a while and have “sold” this way of working to a few colleagues of mine. So far I am satisfied with my email management and have heard similar feedback from them. So try this and let me know your experience. In case you need some help in setting up this, don’t hesitate to email me. I will be more than happy to help you.