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Perhaps Travis would only have 25k emails if not everyone was expected to send him 4 emails where 1 would have sufficed. Or to manage his inbox rather than spe

Perhaps Travis would only have 25k emails if not everyone was expected to send him 4 emails where 1 would have sufficed. Or to manage his inbox rather than spending time reading self-help and 'art of productivity' thought pieces from 'very important' people / his self-selection of 'influencers'. No sarcasm is intended here. I'm reminded of an article entitled 'Wanted: employees who are good at getting things done' https://www.ft.com/content/d77f4d06-4fc0-11e4-908e-00144feab7de https://www.ft.com/content/d77f4d06-4fc0-11e4-908e-00144feab... The 'getting things done' take-away was, conscientiousness.

hombre_fatal 4y ago
I have 30,000 unread emails in Gmail. I don't see why I need to do anything about it as long as I'm not missing emails. In fact, email management would entail that I do more work (like delete vs archive every message) for the same end result even if it would feel like productivity.
- rexpop 4y ago
  > as long as I'm not missing emails From the article, it sounds like Travis was missing 75% of emails.
  - hombre_fatal 4y ago
    I don't think you can say that, and that's why I don't think it's really an email issue but a more general one about async communication. I'd liken it to any time you click into a chat/SMS/WhatsApp notification, read it, but don't respond. Maybe you just don't want to deal with it at the moment. Maybe you're busy. Maybe a response takes some thought and you aren't ready. You didn't miss the message. You just didn't do the extra work of ensuring you'd deal with it. Just think of how few notifications you get that demand that kind of action. This is how a lot of personal/social stuff goes. But especially for the sort of "cold call" emails in TFA. Frankly, I don't see inbox-zero vs inbox-30000 much related to this. Just because you have inbox-zero certainly doesn't mean you respond to every email on the spot. Nor does it mean you treat every email with the same priority. Those two things are all you need for emails to slip through. It's all the same result and it doesn't matter because the point is about the email sender, not the receiver.
    - rexpop 4y ago
      When am I able to check my messages, but unable to respond? If I don't have all the facts at my disposal, that's probably what I'll respond, but promptly acknowledging receipt is a core component of sustainable social relationships. And I can think of one supporting study off the top of my head: Marital interaction and satisfaction: A longitudinal view[0]. 0. https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-006X.57.1.47 https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-006X.5...
- jstimpfle 4y ago
  I like when I can easily answer "has new email arrived since last time I looked" from having an unread count of zero or nonzero. That's why I seldom leave with a nonzero count, but usually cursor through every mail at least to mark it read. I get only about 10-15 mails per day, 95% of which is spam and non-actionable subscription stuff though.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- xboxnolifes 4y ago
  What's the point though? If you never intend to go through the unread messages you could mark them all as read in 3 clicks.
  - hombre_fatal 4y ago
    And if it has the same end result, then that's three pointless clicks. Just to change the background color of emails in gmail.
    - PyWoody 4y ago
      Or you could sort by Unread first and have only items that need to be addressed in view.
  - defaultcompany 4y ago
    Ha… It might take only three clicks but I once did this in gmail (deleting over 50k emails by clicking select all and then delete) and my account was inaccessible for multiple hours. So tread lightly.
nonameiguess 4y ago
Travis was a billionaire and a celebrity. He should have had a small army of personal assistants reading and organizing his inbox. He may personally see very few or even none of those emails, but there should never be six digits unread by anyone.

hombre_fatal 4y ago

I have 30,000 unread emails in Gmail. I don't see why I need to do anything about it as long as I'm not missing emails. In fact, email management would entail that I do more work (like delete vs archive every message) for the same end result even if it would feel like productivity.

rexpop 4y ago
> as long as I'm not missing emails From the article, it sounds like Travis was missing 75% of emails.
- hombre_fatal 4y ago
  I don't think you can say that, and that's why I don't think it's really an email issue but a more general one about async communication. I'd liken it to any time you click into a chat/SMS/WhatsApp notification, read it, but don't respond. Maybe you just don't want to deal with it at the moment. Maybe you're busy. Maybe a response takes some thought and you aren't ready. You didn't miss the message. You just didn't do the extra work of ensuring you'd deal with it. Just think of how few notifications you get that demand that kind of action. This is how a lot of personal/social stuff goes. But especially for the sort of "cold call" emails in TFA. Frankly, I don't see inbox-zero vs inbox-30000 much related to this. Just because you have inbox-zero certainly doesn't mean you respond to every email on the spot. Nor does it mean you treat every email with the same priority. Those two things are all you need for emails to slip through. It's all the same result and it doesn't matter because the point is about the email sender, not the receiver.
  - rexpop 4y ago
    When am I able to check my messages, but unable to respond? If I don't have all the facts at my disposal, that's probably what I'll respond, but promptly acknowledging receipt is a core component of sustainable social relationships. And I can think of one supporting study off the top of my head: Marital interaction and satisfaction: A longitudinal view[0]. 0. https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-006X.57.1.47 https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-006X.5...
jstimpfle 4y ago
I like when I can easily answer "has new email arrived since last time I looked" from having an unread count of zero or nonzero. That's why I seldom leave with a nonzero count, but usually cursor through every mail at least to mark it read. I get only about 10-15 mails per day, 95% of which is spam and non-actionable subscription stuff though.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
xboxnolifes 4y ago
What's the point though? If you never intend to go through the unread messages you could mark them all as read in 3 clicks.
- hombre_fatal 4y ago
  And if it has the same end result, then that's three pointless clicks. Just to change the background color of emails in gmail.
  - PyWoody 4y ago
    Or you could sort by Unread first and have only items that need to be addressed in view.
- defaultcompany 4y ago
  Ha… It might take only three clicks but I once did this in gmail (deleting over 50k emails by clicking select all and then delete) and my account was inaccessible for multiple hours. So tread lightly.

nonameiguess 4y ago

Travis was a billionaire and a celebrity. He should have had a small army of personal assistants reading and organizing his inbox. He may personally see very few or even none of those emails, but there should never be six digits unread by anyone.