Management of eMails

Written By Adam Baumgart

Aren’t emails a pain? I’ve had jobs where the volume of emails varies from 30 a day to over 250 a day. How can you manage over 200 emails in a normal working day? It’s just not possible. Over the last few years I’ve worked with a number of smart people and I’ve complied the following advice! Shout out to Pippa Brown, GSK for a lot of this advice.

Email Folder Structure

  • Inbox (you’re working to keep this to around 25-35 emails a day and clearing it every day)

  • To Do (when an email takes longer than 30 seconds to manage, first thing in the morning, then file it here)

  • Agendas & Pre-read (file any emails here that are meeting agenda, plans or pre-reads for projects, then refile into Month folders)

  • Waiting for Response (file any emails you are expecting a response to. This keeps track of strings of information)

  • Month folders (file emails into monthly folders e.g. YYYY MM like 2023 03)

Or better yet, replace most project email traffic with online systems such as MS Teams!

What is the right number of emails in backlog?

My own experience suggests that if you’re recieving less than 20 emails a day into your Inbox, you’re not involved in a deep enough level and colleagues should be making you more aware. However at the other extreme, receiving over 100 emails a day makes it impossible to actually do any work. Having lived this, there was simply too much detail. More discussion was needed in meetings to resolve issues. I’ve found the optimum number is emails in Inbox backlog is about 25-35 a day.

Email Rigour

  • Daily AM - 5-10 minute review of INBOX. Action quickly (i.e. <30 seconds), then file.

  • Daily PM - 30 minute review of TO DO, WAITING FOR RESPONSE and AGENDA & PREREAD folders. Perform detailed action (max 5 mins each), respond and file.

  • Weekly - 30 minute review of TO DO, AGENDAS & PREREAD, WAITING FOR RESPONSE folders. File away any important emails (i.e. generated and action by you) into MONTHLY folders.

  • Monthly - 45 minute filing, archiving and deletion session.

Daily Review of InBox and To Do Folders

  1. Sort by IMPORTANT / URGENT then action

  2. Sort by TOPIC / TITLE, assess most important topic, pick most recent email, read then action

  3. Sort by SENDER - respond to most “important” people first (not always the most senior, as it maybe your line report or project lead)

  4. Then do the rest or delete email

  5. Clear Inbox by filing emails in To Do

Adam Baumgart
Next

Toxic Relationships