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Managing E-mail We've received several questions about managing e-mail. If our readers are anything like us here at TMI, your number of e-mails is growing exponentially. So, we're going to devote this month and next month to e-mail. This month we will look at Reading and Responding to E-mail and tips for filing E-mail. And if you have some good ideas that we could add to our list, why not e-mail them to us at: TmiUSA@aol.com Reading and Responding to E-mail: "E-mail is an open duct into your central nervous system. It occupies the brain and reduces productivity." Michael Dertouzos, Director, M.I.T.'s Laboratory for Computer Science 1. Respond at specific times to your e-mail. For example, choose at least one a.m. and one p.m. period when you will systematically clear your messages. 2. Start looking at your messages from the bottom up. This way you get the most recent messages first. Sometimes it will mean you don't even have to read an earlier version. 3. If you have a large number of messages, scan the headings first. This is the same principle as scanning the contents of your in-tray. If your senders use good headers, you will probably have a good idea as to what is in the e-mail. 4. Don't necessarily answer your e-mail when you first arrive at the office. Instead, scan it for anything that absolutely has to be handled right now. In this way, follow the principles of clearing your in-tray when you first enter your office. Scan for urgent high-value communications and do those. 5. Use e-mail as a filler task between larger tasks. When you have a few minutes, or your brain can't cope with budgetary figures for a minute longer, dip into your e-mail. In effect, use the principle of doing don't forget tasks and apply it to e-mail. 6. Organize your messages by sender. Sometimes people send follow-up messages which change requirements of previous messages. 7. Organize your e-mail by Urgent and Non-urgent. Look at the non-urgent items later, or at the end of the day when you are tired and don't have the energy to respond to something critical. 8. Evaluate your e-mail by who sent it. Obviously, some senders deserve reading whenever they send a message. 9. Be fair to your senders. If you aren't reading your e-mail at least once a day, inform your senders. The nature of the technology suggests that you will respond within a few days time. 10. If you get too much e-mail, get off e-mail lists. It takes time to delete all those messages, even if you don't open them. Just one high-volume Internet listserv send you 30 or more messages per day. New subscribers to the Internet will set up for four or five listservs, until the novelty wears off and the stress sets in. 11. Be careful of software filters and automatic paging notification systems. They can help, but they aren't the final answer. Robert W. Lucky, Corporate Vice President for Applied Research at Bellcore in Morristown, New Jersey, warns: "I've used software filters and automatic paging notification for 'urgent' e-mail message, but I gave it up. Word got out that I was using such a program, and everyone was careful to use that word." Lucky believes the filters are "modestly effectively," but often fail to notify him about messages from external people who were very important, but the filter didn't know it. Filing E-mail: "A lot of people don't understand that just because you erased the message, it's not gone from the system." Michael Underhill, Legal Partner 1. Set up file folders for e-mail. Base the folders on your Key Areas and put your e-mail in them if you decide to save your e-mail. 2. Also keep in mind that when you delete an e-mail from your computer, it doesn't mean it's deleted from the network. 3. PLEASE. Break the habit of making a hard copy of every e-mail message you go. Sometimes it's appropriate. But mostly it's a waste of another tree. Please submit your questions to Time Manager Questions and Answers. If you have questions, undoubtedly someone else has the same question. By asking a question, you'll help a fellow Time Manager user become more effective.
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