This slideshow highlights energy waste and inefficiency from excessive email and inbox mis-management. Behavior change, case study and tips are given to minimize inbox clutter, storage problems and time wasted due to electronic packrat habits. Working smarter and more efficiently with email is the premise of the presentation.
Owning Your Inbox! Owning Your Inbox! skills for managing email skills for managing email For Email Users For Email Users By Dr. Keely Killpack By Dr. Keely Killpack Gaining control over eCommunication.
Transcript
Owning Your Inbox! skills for managing email For Email Users By
Dr. Keely Killpack Gaining control over eCommunication.
Outline of Topics Diamonds are forever; email comes close. June
Kronholz Controlling Your Inbox Enabling Performance Power Over
Email Social Tools & Subscription Mgmt Critical Tips Using
Email Sustainable Computing
Sustainable Computing The ultimate computer, our own brain,
uses only ten watts of power; one-tenth the energy consumed by a
hundred-watt bulb. - Paul Valery
Networks
People that use computers
Processors that run applications
Memory is the storage of EVERYTHING produced
electronically
Server Farms
Primary source of memory
Highly inefficient , because they store duplicates of
everything from attachments, e-newsletters, drafts of old files,
and ALL the content of your email
Powering the System
More than 2% of all electricity generated just for server
farms
$7.2 billion in annual costs to businesses
Highly Inefficient use of power & processing
Adapted from Peters Tech Trumpet Hidden Cost of Cyberspace
Sustainable Computing Virtual SUV Electricity Guzzlers
What to do?
Shut PCs down EVERY DAY
Use Edison or other software to regulate energy when idle
IT equipment is a growing offender of energy use. Many
computing devices consume lots of power even when they are idle -
like revving your engine while sitting at traffic lights.
PCs are often left powered on when not in use in many standard
corporate environments. This is not typically measured and will
steadily increase with growth in use and rising cost of
electricity
Ex: A typical medium sized company has 1000 PCs and 100 servers
running data centers (in house or outsourced)
For the PCs: Roughly $100,000 wasted annually ($100/pc/yr)
For the Servers: Roughly $120,000 spent annually (power &
cooling)
Estimated $220,000 annual cost just to power all the computing
equipment! There is a carbon cost (GHG) for this waste of
electricity.
Savings: Estimated 30% savings of annual costs with controlled
PC power and behavior changes
Adapted from Peters Tech Trumpet
Sustainable Computing Just Turning It Off This is the
equivalent of 64 cars off the road or planting 28,000 trees! This
is 495,000 lbs (248 tons) of CO 2 saved: Just in one company!
IMAGINE if our competitors, our neighbors, our schools, our state
just did this.. Would we even have a CO 2 problem? If the average
medium sized company turned their computers off when not in use,
they would save more than $52K in annual energy costs.
http://www.1e.com/EnergyCampaign/Calculation.aspx
Controlling Your Inbox Email Volume & Storage The only one
who knows what you want delivered to your inbox is you Cindy Cohn
Set boundaries for being copied on things... Then enforce it.
Adapted from Merlin Mann (Google) & youurcomputerminute.com
Being a digital packrat is not sustainable
If you are compelled to save everything, put emails in a folder
for 6 months then burn them on CD and DELETE. Two cycles of this
and you will be a believer!
If you're a pack-rat or a control freak at the core of your
being, that is okay. Today is your opportunity to change!
80% of all email comes from common senders
It will always be in a colleagues sent folder if you really
need it again AND they will resend it if you forget anyway
Enabling Performance
KEY BEHAVIORS TO FOCUS YOUR MIND
Your calendar should dictate your work performance
Time without Interruption
Create daily Private Appointments 1-1.5 hours
Put your phones on Do Not Disturb
Close your door / put on headphones
Do work; not meetings, not email, not phone just work
Schedule times to check email
Create daily Check Inbox appointments (2/3 per day)
Top of every other hour, etc (this keeps you from constantly
checking and having the inbox control your time)
Use Phone or IM to handle immediate, brief conversations
Defend Your Calendar The world is moving so fast these days that
the one who says it cant be done is generally interrupted by
someone doing it. Harry Emerson Fosdick Scheduling time to focus on
work AND time for email saves more than: 30 min per DAY 2.5 hr per
WEEK 1 full work week per YEAR
The Power of Email Email Processing Inbox - Active work area -
NOT filing cabinet Delegate Delete Process INBOX Emails are Work;
If You Read It Deal With It! DELEGATE Forward to Appropriate Person
DELETE Trash, Archive or File for Reference PROCESS Perform, Reply,
Resolve Issue; If Complex, create a draft to proofread and follow
up later
Social Networking Tools The Value of Being Connected
Social Tools
Current Scenario
You may be a member of a social network, but this is an
addition to using your personal & professional email as your
primary communication tool for keeping in touch with distance
friends & colleagues
A Better Approach
Consider actively leveraging your membership
Invest the time upfront to load your contacts & train
yourself
Create a recurring, calendar appointment (bimonthly, for 30
min) to dedicate time to update your network
Consider a quarterly update to share your news
consistently
Use a personal email account for friends & social
activities
MySpace is the Wal-Mart of social networking sites. - Chris, from
www.moreron.com Example Only Example Only Example Only
You are currently auto-subscribed to various relevant
e-newsletters that are randomly emailed to you, which you skim,
sometimes read, then file in your newsletters folder.
A Better Approach
Make a list of the valuable newsletters
Create a recurring, calendar appointment (monthly, for 1 hour)
to navigate and review each newsletter. Dont forget to include
links!
Unsubscribe from all of them to REDUCE INBOX CLUTTER,
CYBERTRASH and ENERGY INEFFICIENCY
There is NO NEED to store copies of all of this
information.
If you read something really valuable, consider pasting it into
a notes application or document where you will be able to save and
use it again without too much digging
Example Only Example Only
Critical Tips for Email EVERYDAY TIMESAVERS
Use action verbs in email subject line: ACTION REQD, ALERT,
STATUS, UPDATE, DUE DATE, etc
Set Email settings to automatically Spell-check
Proofread EVERY email you send
Turn up your spam filter
Consider calling or Instant Messaging (IM) for quick chats
Keep emails to half a page
DO NOT respond to an email with I will get to this tomorrow,
etc
Who REALLY needs to be included or copied?
The inbox is a dangerous place Richard Gingras
Call to Action
Which of these tips will help you the most?
Is your power over the inbox more evident now?
Coaching, Training and further consultation available.