Dot Connector Blog

I know, the last think you need is another meeting. Well, listen up, because this meeting is worth having! What is it?

• The Weekly Project Meeting!

Got a large project you’re managing? Maybe a series of smaller projects, all for the same goal/Client/etc? Just schedule 1 hour, once a week, to meet with the appropriate stakeholders involved. This is your time to shine, your time to show how much you’ve completed, and your time to present new ideas and get buy-in!

If you think about your work in terms of the priorities I’ve outlined previously, then you inevitably have Clients (internal or external to your organization) that you have to work with. Here are some examples:

• You work at a consulting firm, and you have Clients who pay you for your expertise (this is the most obvious)
• You are a mid-level manager at a corporation, and your Clients are the senior level executives who are setting goals you need to achieve.
• You work at a non-profit, and your Clients are the people you are trying to help, as well as your board of directors

You see, wherever you work, you’re bound to have Clients.

Now, to manage and complete successful projects for your Clients, you need to foster accountability to each other. A weekly meeting does this for two major reasons:

1. Neither party wants to look unprepared for the meeting, so you spend time working on the project(s) and making tangible progress (I always smile when I see a great deal of work completed just before a weekly project meeting!).
2. Quite often, this is the only “face-time” all stakeholders on the project(s) have with each other. So, it’s a great time to get lingering issues resolved, to get questions answered, and to solicit opinions and buy-in for ideas in the project.

I know this is a simple idea, but it’s a powerful one. One of the first things I do when assessing a project that has gone off course is see what type of weekly meetings are in place. Typically in these situations, there are none. And, once this sort of meeting is implemented, many project issues tend to go away!

Weekly meetings are a great step toward successful completion of your project. Try them, you’ll see!

In Part I of this topic, we discussed some resolutions you have to make before embarking on a plan to take control of your email. We also talked about the fundamental ways to organize your view of your inbox, and the folders to use for processing and storing email.

In Part II of this topic, we covered how to manage your new email organization system, including tips and tricks for dedicating time to work your new system.

For Part III, the final installment in this series, we will cover tips and tricks for Microsoft Outlook that will help you speed up processing of email in your new system.

Setup Special Rules for Your New System

• As you probably know, rules in Outlook can be a powerful way to help you save time and process your email more efficiently.
• I do not recommend creating rules until you have worked the system for a couple of weeks. I know that may seem labor-intensive, but it will give you a great feel for what types of email you actually get. This is just like keeping track of every place you spend money when you are trying to create a budget!
• After a couple of weeks, it’s time to create some rules, so when you are spending your dedicated time processing your inbox, you don’t have a lot of “clutter” to deal with.
  • I recommend setting up a folder within your “Archive” called “Alerts/Subscriptions” or something similar. Then, create a rule to send any “alerts,” “automated responses,” and email newsletters to that folder.
  • That way, you have control over when you review those types of messages, and they are not in the way when you are working your system.
  • Of course, if you get critical alerts that you must see the second they come into your inbox, do not create a rule for them.

Flag Emails Based on Priority

• In a previous post, I discussed a simple, but very effective technique for determining priorities on a daily basis. I use this prioritization system for to dos, callbacks, as well as email
• Using Microsoft Outlook rules, you can “flag” emails with a colored flag. Since some emails are more important than others, this coloring technique dramatically helps you when working your email system.
• Here’s how I color my emails, based on the priorities I’ve previously outlined:
  • PRIORITY #1: Your Crew – Green flag: emails from my Crew appear with a green flag in my inbox
  • PRIORITY#2: Your Clients – Red flag: emails from my Clients appear with a red flag in my inbox
  • PRIORITY#3: Your Company – No colored flag: this allows me to focus on my “flagged email” first, and then my non-flagged, lower priority, email next

I hope these tips help you speed up the time it takes you to process your email. Good luck, and here’s to the freedom of an empty inbox!

In Part I of this topic, we discussed some resolutions you have to make before embarking on a plan to take control of your email. We also talked about the fundamental ways to organize your view of your inbox, and the folders to use for processing and storing email.

Now, let’s talk about how to really make this new system work for you.

First, you must decide when to work your new system. Your options are:

1. As emails come in (i.e. in “real-time”) – best for people with Blackberrys and all-day access to a computer
2. At scheduled intervals each day – best for people in a lot of meetings, managing teams, and leading organizations

If you plan to act on all email as it comes in, you simply do that. In a later post, I will cover some useful tips for making this easier on a Blackberry.

The best way to stay on top of email is to schedule regular time to work your new system. I highly recommend:

• 45 min. – 1 hour at the beginning of the day
• 45 min. – 1 hr. at the end of the day

When you take time like this, it’s best to block off your schedule, sign out of IM, and only take the calls you must take. That way, you know in your mind that you have a dedicated time each morning and late afternoon to “catch-up” on email (or, work your new system!).

I also recommend blocking 2-4 hours once per week to process the email in your “Read/Review” folder (if you remember, those were all the emails, attachments, video emails etc. that you will dedicate time to later.

Dedicating time like this might be hard, and it may sound extreme, but it’s the fastest way to an empty inbox and less email stress!

If your email was a bookshelf, would it look like this?  (Source: Striatic)

Email. We all have it. We rely on it, and sometimes, we can’t get away from it. Overflowing Inboxes cause us stress. Trying to find an email causes stress. Wondering if you replied to all of the emails you need to causes stress.

As a remote team leader who works remotely from home, I receive anywhere from 300 – 800 emails a day. To be able to effectively manage such a flow of email, I’ve created these time-tested ways to utilize it effectively – and stay on top of it.

Today, that stress goes away! Just follow the steps in this 3 part series, and you will get control of your email, instead of it controlling you. What follows is my formula for using email effectively. Some of my theories are not new. In fact, my main sources for this system are David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD), Franklin Covey’s planning systems, and my philosophy on priorities which you can read in my previous post, “How do you prioritize?”.

DAY 1

To get control of your email, you must first resolve that:

1. Email is a required form of communication in your work, and you must commit time to it as a “thing”
2. An empty inbox means less stress, more time, and much more creativity!

Next, you need a very basic system to organize and process your email. Here’s my system:

Step 1: The Best Way to Read Email.

This is a huge, and easy first step: GROUP your inbox email by conversation (ascending), and THEN, SORT by time/date received (descending). This will have the effect of showing you each “email conversation” going on in your inbox, with the most recent message at the top of each email conversation group.

• Note: By making this simple change alone, you will NEVER reply to an email, only to find more replies on that email later in your unread mail!

Step 2: Organize Your Email Folders.

Setup 4 folders within your inbox (the exclamation points make the folders show up first in most email programs):

• ! Action – emails that will take more than 2 minutes to respond to
• ! Read/Review – emails, attachments, video emails etc. that you will dedicate time to later
• ! Waiting For – emails where you are waiting for someone else to do something
• Archive – where all email goes when you are done with it

Step 3: Work the System!

1. All email goes into your inbox to be physically processed by you! (don’t worry, it’s not a big deal, as you’ll see next)
2. Emails that take less than 2 minutes to react/reply to get dealt with immediately
3. Move all other emails to your folders

That’s it for Part I. I hope this is the start of a new relationship between you and your inbox! Good luck!

If you’d like to make improvements to your voicemail, check out these voicemail tips.