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I don't delete, and don't file to other folders. I trust Apple mail's search feature to find emails when I need to dredge them up. I don't find it's distracti

by abruzzi 12y ago

I don't delete, and don't file to other folders. I trust Apple mail's search feature to find emails when I need to dredge them up. I don't find it's distracting, because I've trained myself to only pay attention to the blue dot. I just recently passed 20k on my work email. If I combined all my inboxes, I'd be well over 30k.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
cpncrunch 12y ago
So how do you find the emails that you've read but not dealt with yet?
- plorkyeran 12y ago
  I just mark them as unread. I don't find it useful to distinguish between "read but not dealt with yet" and "unread".
  - cpncrunch 12y ago
    So what if you marked it read a month ago? Do you trawl through pages and pages of emails multiple times a day to find the unread ones? Or do you filter by unread?
    - plorkyeran 12y ago
      Yes, I filter by unread. The end result is essentially equivalent to mails being automatically moved from the inbox to an archive when read (with a button to move it back).
- bradleyland 12y ago
  In most cases, I don't rely on my email inbox to track tasks. If an email requires follow up, I flag/star it and move on to the next email, circling back to handle the follow up whenever I intend. If it's something I don't anticipate handling that same work-day, I add a task to Things (https://culturedcode.com/things/ https://culturedcode.com/things/) so I don't lose sight of it. You could just as easily use something like Wunderlist (https://www.wunderlist.com/en/ https://www.wunderlist.com/en/) or even your smartphone's reminder/task list utility. The key is to keep the list simple. I drop these "daily" tasks on a task queue, ordered by priority. If I find something slipping down the queue too far (which implies it's been there too long), I'll either delegate it, or fire off a quick email to the person letting them know that I received their message, but haven't been able to take action on it. When I explain this to people, they insist that they're far too busy to handle their inbox/task flow like this. IMO, this is a good indication that you're overcommitted. If you can't keep a simple list of the things you need to do, then you're over-burdened, and you need some help. That or you're simply kidding yourself.

by abruzzi 12y ago

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

cpncrunch 12y ago

So how do you find the emails that you've read but not dealt with yet?

plorkyeran 12y ago
I just mark them as unread. I don't find it useful to distinguish between "read but not dealt with yet" and "unread".
- cpncrunch 12y ago
  So what if you marked it read a month ago? Do you trawl through pages and pages of emails multiple times a day to find the unread ones? Or do you filter by unread?
  - plorkyeran 12y ago
    Yes, I filter by unread. The end result is essentially equivalent to mails being automatically moved from the inbox to an archive when read (with a button to move it back).
bradleyland 12y ago
In most cases, I don't rely on my email inbox to track tasks. If an email requires follow up, I flag/star it and move on to the next email, circling back to handle the follow up whenever I intend. If it's something I don't anticipate handling that same work-day, I add a task to Things (https://culturedcode.com/things/ https://culturedcode.com/things/) so I don't lose sight of it. You could just as easily use something like Wunderlist (https://www.wunderlist.com/en/ https://www.wunderlist.com/en/) or even your smartphone's reminder/task list utility. The key is to keep the list simple. I drop these "daily" tasks on a task queue, ordered by priority. If I find something slipping down the queue too far (which implies it's been there too long), I'll either delegate it, or fire off a quick email to the person letting them know that I received their message, but haven't been able to take action on it. When I explain this to people, they insist that they're far too busy to handle their inbox/task flow like this. IMO, this is a good indication that you're overcommitted. If you can't keep a simple list of the things you need to do, then you're over-burdened, and you need some help. That or you're simply kidding yourself.