I  WILL  TEACH  YOU  

INBOX  ZERO  

Agenda

The Research The 3 Commandments Inbox Zero Advanced Email Hacks

Research

28% of time spent in our inbox

The McKinsey Global Institute found that an average employee spends 13 hours/week reading and responding to email.

•  28% •  650 hours/year •  Completely reactive, low

value work

38% of emails are important

An average inbox contains only 38% important, relevant emails • Down from 42% 2 years ago • Terrible signal to noise ratio for the most important real estate in our life

Attention switching cost are a silent killer

A study by the Danwood Group found that it takes an average of 64 seconds to recover from an email interruption

Critical to batch-process unimportant emails

Email overload increases stress levels

A team of researchers at UC Irvine and U.S. Army studied effects of limiting email access on participants’ heart rate and ability to focus.

Email = increased heart rate

Email is here to stay

A study by the Grossman Group suggests that limiting or eliminating internal email to employees isn’t an effective solution to email overload.

The 3 Commandments

Commandment #1 Email = Tetris.

Problem: No matter how good you are, more keep on coming. Faster. Solution: Can’t beat the game. Have to change it: System Process Tools

Commandment #1 Email ≠ default top priority

Problem: Email is a to-do list other people write on. Solution: Scan: for important/urgent emails, then close your Inbox Block: 30-60 min slots for “Email Time” Ask: yourself if clearing your inbox is the best use of time

Commandment #1 Not all emails are created equal

Problem: Each email commands the same real estate in your inbox. Solution: Unimportant Delete/Archive in Bulk Important / Urgent Now Important / Not urgent Later

Inbox Zero

Triage

Triage noun, trē-’äzh Developed during the Napoleonic Wars by Dominique Jean Larrey. The process of determining the priority of patients' treatments based on the severity of their condition: • Those who are likely to live, regardless of what care they receive • Those who are likely to die, regardless of what care they receive • Those for whom immediate care might make a positive difference in outcome

Inbox Zero = Triage

Delete/Archive Defer Delegate Respond Do

Inbox Zero = Triage

Delete/Archive 1. Noise (should die) Defer Delegate 2. Quick fix (2 min) Respond Do 3. Needs work (later)

Inbox Zero with SaneBox

Delete/Archive SaneLater, SaneBlackHole, Custom Defer SaneSnooze Delegate SaneReminders Respond SaneReminders Do Star/Flag/Inbox

At the end of the day SaneSnooze whatever is left = Inbox Zero

Advanced Email Hacks

Bold key phrases

If your email is on the longer side, highlight key words or sentences in bold. This will make your reader’s job easier and you’ll be a more efficient communicator. Don’t do all caps (THAT’S YELLING!) Don’t bold too much

Don’t get hacked

Real techies use 1Password or LastPass bjinmlsjagwctIat1- nearly impossible to crack + easy to remember

Avoid accidental send

Don’t fill out recepient’s address right away Undo Send - Gmail Labs

Don’t use your Inbox as an archive

#1 Productivity Faux Pas It’s like stuffing your snail mail back into your mailbox after reading it.

Use the subject wisely

Put a call to action into it. “5 things I need you to do tomorrow” > “Things” Use tags: • [Time Sensitive] • [Action Item] • NNTR, NRN, or FYI • EOM • Not Urgent (removes stress)

Don’t unsubscribe from suspicious emails

Danger: Unsubscribing from suspicious emails = more junk mail

Safety: Use SaneBlackHole

Don’t be the CC backseat driver

Specify why people are CC’ed Avoid random people chiming in Let the people in the “to” line handle it Try SaneBox’s SaneCC

Check if you’re BCC’ed (not CC’ed) before “Reply All”

Don’t embarrass the sender: only you and the sender know that you got this email

Avoid open-ended questions

Email is a great medium for closed-ended questions - not open ended. Don’t end emails with “Thoughts?” Try “Do you think we should do X, Y or Z?”

Busiest people are very responsive

CEOs, VCs and busiest people get to Inbox Zero everyday even though they get 10x the volume How: system, tools, process Thinking about email the right way

happy  emailing!