This is a presentation to accompany a blog post I wrote on how to think and use email more effectively as a professional. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140906155710-22963483-how-to-love-your-email-again?trk=mp-reader-card

1. “ A c h i e v i n g I n b o x - Z e r o u s i n g G T D ”
Mukom Akong T. @perfexcellent
How to
Love Email Again

2. Spotting Email dysfunction
Root causes of Emailitis
Better Em
ail practices
Inbox-ZerothroughGTD
Agenda!
Tipsfromthefrontlines

3. Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |
You know these “-itises”
3
Arthritis
Hepatitis
Gastritis

4. But … what about this?

5. e.mail.it.is |ee-mayl-eye-tis| (noun)
1. a productivity-draining inflammation of
electronic mail.
2. Overblowing the importance of email as
a productivity tool.

6. 121Average number of emails received per person per day in 2014
(source: Radicati Group)

7. $1 billion/yr
Cost of lost productivity due to email overload for firms with 50,000+
employees

8. @perfexcellent
Symptoms2
How to recognise the
of Emailitis

9. Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |
Symptom #1: Sustained high un-read mail count
9
957

10. Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |
Symptom #2: The cocktail ‘Inbox’
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•Read and unread emails
•Starred and un-starred emails
•Labelled and un-labelled emails
… all deserve equal amounts of attention??!!

11. Symptom #3:
Email ‘organised’ in over
20 folders
Dividing an ‘incomplete pile of unclear stuff’ into several
folders doesn’t help clarify them! - STOP

12. Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |
Symptom #4: Your response to a computer crash
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$#@&
God No!!
my email!!!

13. Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |
Symptom #5: Email is the subject of conflict!
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14. @perfexcellent
Root Causes3
Exposing the
of Emailitis

15. Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |
Emailitis results from email misuse
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Project Management
Email is a LOUSY tool for these!
Brainstorming Doc. Collaboration

16. Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |
Use these tools instead of email
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Project Management Brainstorming Doc. Collaboration
Trello
Jira
Asana Mediawiki
Post-It
Freemind
Mediawiki
Google
Drive

17. Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |
The’re often better ways than email!
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TASK SOME MORE EFFECTIVE TOOLS
Project Management
Collaborative Project Management System e.g.
• Jira
• Trello
• Asana
Brainstorming
• Meet for 1 hour & use Post-It notes
• Mindmap apps e.g Freemind, Wisemapping
• Wiki e.g. confluence, mediawiki
Document collaboration
• Google Drive (Docs, Sheets, Slides)
• Use “Track Changes” feature of Office apps
• Etherpad

18. Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |
The’re often better ways than email!
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19. @perfexcellent
Practices3
Better
for dealing with email

20. Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |
Only 5 things matter about email
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Unread
Read
(Action needed
from someone)
Read
(Action needed)
Sent by you
(Response Expected)
Read
(Reference Info)

21. Inbox
Action
Waiting
Reference
Everything
Else
You NEED only 5 + 1 ‘folders’

22. Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |
Meet your new ‘Inbox’
•ESSENTIAL & UNREAD mails
•Auto-filter out non-essentials:
①Mailing lists
②Social media notifications
③Newsletters
④Promotions etc
•Empty every day (Inbox Zero)
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Inbox

23. Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |
‘Action’ folder
•Mails that need 2+ minutes
•What to do with it?
①Reply (long responses)
②Process into tasks (ToDo list)
•Remove treated mails
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Action

24. Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |
‘Waiting’ folder
•Mails you sent (or forwarded)
•Usually means ‘delegated’
•You expect a response/update
•Send reminder(s)
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Waiting

25. Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |
‘Reference’ folder
•Mails you’ve already read
•Contain important
information to be referenced
in the future
•What to do with it?
①Print and file (old school :-()
②Forward to Evernote
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Reference

26. Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |
‘Everything Else’ folder
Non-essential unread mail
• Mailing lists
• Social media updates
• Promotions etc
What to do with it?
•Scan twice/thrice a week
•Move interesting to
Action/Reference as
needed
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Waiting

27. @perfexcellent
Inbox-Zero4
Getting to
GTD-style

28. Recall:
GTD Workflow
(c) David Allen

29. Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |
Inbox-Zero workflow
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Auto
SORT
Process Organize DO
Filters
Rules
What ACTION
does this mail
require?
Tracking
Referencing
Long replies
Tasks

30. ActionReference
Action? By Me?
<= 2
mins
?
Respond
NOW
Inbox
Archives
Mailing Lists
New mail
Referential
?
Waiting
YESNO
NO
YES
YES
NO
NO
YES
Auto-Filters
Processing Email
Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent

31. Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |
Processing Email: The 2 Minute Rule
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2minutes
Move to “Action” folder
Respond now
Remove from Inbox

32. Mukom Akong T. | @Perfexcellent |
Inbox Zero implementation in Gmail
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33. @perfexcellent
Tips & Tricks5
Some
from the field

34. Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |
Some of my email tactics
① Disable notifications!
② NEVER start your day with email
③ Break #2 if email is your big rock for that day
④ Do email 2 or 3 times per day
⑤ Close email client at other times
⑥ Keep work and personal email separate
⑦ Delete mail that’s not reference or actionable
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35. Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |
Settings for Gmail
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• Use labels to categorise
• Use filters to skip inbox
• “Unread” is my Inbox (only non-junk)

36. Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |
Settings for Apple Mail
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• Rename flags to desired statuses
• Use Use filters to skip inbox
• “GTD-Inbox” is my Inbox (only non-junk)
• Use Smart Mailboxes to hold tagged messages
• Drag Smart Mailboxes to create toolbar
• Hide Mailboxes sidebar for clean look

37. Mukom Akong T. | @perfexcellent |
Settings for Thunderbird
① Create tags |-Action-| , |-Waiting-| etc
② Use QuickFolders add-on to create tabs of
the for each of the above tabs
③ Used “Saved Search” to configure my
buckets “Inbox”, “Action” , “Reference”,
“Monitor”
④ Switch to a view that Hides Folder
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38. Work; email is NOT. Tool; it is.
Wisely; use it thou shall!
Else to the Dark side; take you; email will.

39. A
N
W
E
R
S
Q U E S T I O N S
mukom.tamon@gmail.com
@perfexcellent