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Friday, July 31, 2009:

The Curse of email 

Inboxes of 50 or more emails every morning are now commonplace, and probably another 50 or so coming in during the course of the day. So how does one deal with this volume? The answer is probably, "Not very well". So I am on the look out for advice.

As I have mentioned elsewhere in this diary, many of the emails are internal and for information only -- just copies. But I would not like to ditch them because some are very useful. One way I cope is by not opening emails as they arrive -- but then some people phone up and ask if you got their email sent an hour ago!

The strange thing is, that when I am not in the office for several days, such as now (I'm currently in Paraguay), the world doesn't stop even though fewer emails get sent.

Perhaps if I could add a 50p donation for receiving an email -- a bit like a mobile phone charge or SMS -- that would not only reduce the volume, but also boost the funds available for doing what we are set up to do. Ideas, feedback?

Posted by John Friday, July 31, 2009
 
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5 Comments:

Hiya. Our inboxes get full up too, and I joint manage 4 different inboxes with my line manager as well as my own inbox. We use outlook and emails are marked unread until they have been dealt with. Once they have been read/dealt with, we have a folder system in outlook for emails sent, actioned, acknowledgments, important information, etc.

After all of that, if it doesn't belong in one of our folders it can probably be deleted!

Millie B. (mslogica on Twitter)

By  Millie, at 31 July, 2009 18:59  

If most emails are info only then you should think about having an internal Wikki. This way people in your organisation can post information, people can comment on information and the wikki can have an RSS feed. That way you can see at a glance all the post and just read the ones that you need too. Also the wikki can be searched and tagged. So that in the future when you need to refer to it you can.

By  Anonymous, at 02 August, 2009 21:48  

It happens all the time even on my email. My goodness, every hour 5-10 spams email messages arrive in my inbox. I have already checked out and filter these emails and eventually reduced.

By  Gawad Kalinga Foundation, at 13 August, 2009 06:09  

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By  msc_ssa, at 14 August, 2009 03:59  

This is an interesting take on how to spend less time on emails - involving 'virtual assistants':

The Holy Grail: How to Outsource the Inbox and Never Check Email Again

By  Helena, at 27 August, 2009 18:26  

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