Mastering Your Email
[UPDATE 9-22-13] Just found this great article from Rich Birch with incredible tips on mastering email.
Invest 40 minutes in your email this evening to reduce hours of email time this week! – http://t.co/BkF35kfpsw
— richbirch (@richbirch) September 23, 2013
The send button has become a replacement for many inner office conversations as well as phone appointments. Email is a great tool but it was never meant to be a replacement for conversation or relationship. When we send an email we assume the recipient will see our message and respond soon thereafter. We leave our email client open all day long just so we can see any and every email come through.
After ditching my email client to manage my google email through my browser I’ve found that without my email constantly open I have more time for the projects that need my attention. I no longer am preoccupied by the needs of throughout the day. When I need to send an email or check for a certain message I scan my inbox for those messages that require my attention. For those that do not, I don’t touch them until a time that week which I designate for email.
A Helpful Solution
Task management software has been huge for our team in our attempt to minimize email usage. Rather than hitting reply all for a project conversation, we open a conversation in our TMS and all conversation is limited to that location. Our email use is minimized and we have a clean conversation history which doesn’t us to require tracing subject lines and email threads.
How have you mastered your email flow?
Looking for more resources on managing email? Check out this list.
[UPDATE 9-20-13] Buffer has a written a great complimentary article.
18 Tips and Tools for Managing Email Successfully http://t.co/1LnMwaztz1
— Buffer (@buffer) September 17, 2013
[UPDATE 8-17-13] Found a great complimentary article over at ChurchM.ag. Hope these both help in some way. Click Here
*Image Credit to Daniela Alves
