SolidSmack - Latest Comments in The 2 Step Trick to Kill Email and Take Back Your Day

Re: The 2 Step Trick to Kill Email and Take Back Your Day

Josh — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:29:36 -0000

Al... that... IS INSANE. 12,000 - I think I would delete and start over.

Re: The 2 Step Trick to Kill Email and Take Back Your Day

al dean — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:50:24 -0000

last year, when I hnad time on my hands, I spent time and went through my email for a year. I had 12,000 emails (very little spam) - I'm a journalist, so I get sent a lot of stuff. I went through everything I had and guess how much I whittled it down to - how many emails out of those 12,000 I kept.

56..

read it, delete it. that's my tip.

Re: The 2 Step Trick to Kill Email and Take Back Your Day

Josh — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:26:20 -0000

@Bruce - indeed huh. I definitely recommend it to document conversations. On phone conversations, I'll follow up with an email to all the parties. That is important to point out.

@MikeO - yes, jokes. my deleted box is a repository for jokes and chain mails. :)

@Rich - that is an interesting program. I've always hated those ">" marks on forwarded email.

@Rick - totally agree with you. I've seen the same thing and it gets ridiculous.

@Ivan - product management can increase email load, but the goal is to make it not rule your day. I'd still set times to check it, say 1 time every hour, instead of just sitting looking at it (which I've seen as well.)

@Marijn - cool, I'll check out that Gmail Labs tool. i don't use gchat too much though, but the other feature sounds cool.

Thanks for all the replies. I hope some people try this out and tell me what happened!

Re: The 2 Step Trick to Kill Email and Take Back Your Day

Bruce Buck — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:19:49 -0000

Tried and true tips taken straight from any time management course. HOWEVER, they'll say the same thing about phone calls. DON'T answer every time it rings. If it's that important, they'll leave a voicemail.

So now, they'll text you, or come over and slap your face.

The huge advantage that email has over phone is DOCUMENTATION. In a dispute, you have a record of it. Verbal agreements always get you in trouble. However, it is a better medium of communication when time is of the essence.

The a trade off with everything. Some things simply need to be addressed quickly. Choose the medium that works for you, and pick your battles.

Re: The 2 Step Trick to Kill Email and Take Back Your Day

MikeO — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:08:23 -0000

If I only check it once or twice a day I'll miss all my SolidWorks tips and tricks and I'll have wasted the day designing parts the wrong way instead of a better way.

Also

If there were no spam, I would only get 5 emails a day and the "you have mail" icon would only come up those 5 times.

Email is for sending jokes anyway, right?

Re: The 2 Step Trick to Kill Email and Take Back Your Day

rhalexype — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:03:10 -0000

Found this in Plurkland... http://www.dsoft.com.tr/stripmail/

Not an email killer, but a little helper...

StripMail is a FREEWARE utility that:

Strips the characters ">" and "|" from forwarded e-mails.
Formats the text into paragraphs, making it easier to read.
Changes the text's right margin, by indenting.
Can be used with any e-mail client.

Re: The 2 Step Trick to Kill Email and Take Back Your Day

Rick Stavanja — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:24:27 -0000

Email is the most misused tool out there right now because so many people use it as a poor-man's collaboration tool.

I know people that set their preferences for email checking frequency to 1 minute beause they're afraid they may miss something. They ask everyone in the office to select unique email alert tones, and then turn up their speakers full blast and come running from down the hall (or even from another floor) if they think they heard their tone.

Yet in over 20 years of experience in the business, not one of those guys can cite an example of a negative event happening because they were 15 minutes late receiving an email.

It's simple really... Email is best for messages and prolonged conversations. IM is best for more quick questions or short conversations. And the telephone, VOIP, or webcam is by far the best for immediate and\or long conversations. Just use each tool for what it's best for and leave it at that.

--End of Rant--

Re: The 2 Step Trick to Kill Email and Take Back Your Day

Ivan — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:38:19 -0000

Revolutionary! I totally agree with you on time wasted...

I could make a slight argument and that is where I send a dwg file to vendors to get a quote and they email me back same day (if I'm lucky!) and I can confirm an order 1 day sooner which is huge if we're on a tight timeline... and maybe it needs to be shipped on certain days... sigh... but really, why should it be that tight in the first place. SEE: PRODUCT MANAGEMENT!

Re: The 2 Step Trick to Kill Email and Take Back Your Day

Marijn — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:14:32 -0000

Gmail has a feature in the labs section:

'Email Addict
by Michael D
Lets you take a break from email and chat by blocking the screen for fifteen minutes and making you invisible in chat.'
The only problem is that you can refresh your page and reset it.