Better manage your email inbox to reduce distractions and save time.

Causes of email overload

• Too many messages
• Too long messages
• Not enough time
• Difficult to decide what to respond to first
• Thoughtfulness required

Effects of email overload

A research study, “Case Study: evaluating the effect of email interruptions within the workplace“ (source) authored by Thomas Jackson of Loughborough University found that 70% of arriving emails were reacted to within 6 seconds. Once the email was addressed, it took an average employee 64 seconds to resume working at the same rate they were before the interruption.

Tips -- try one of these for a week!

Deal with each message only once (Getting Things Done)

• If action required, then do it, delegate it, or defer it.
• If no action required, then file it, delete it, or incubate it.
• Flag or file deferred messages. Ignore the read messages. Keep for future searches.

Organize messages by importance and urgency

• Rules automatically file messages into folders (Outlook | Entourage | advice from Inbox Zero)
• Search folders (mail views) show unread messages, items sent only to you, etc.
• Categories assign colors to messages based on criteria. (Outlook | Entourage)

Master the one-line response

• A short response may do the recipient a favor (Inbox Zero)
• Reply with a link.
• Ask a question.
• "I don't know."
• Know when not to reply.

Limit email interruptions, read email in bunches

• Turn off notifications (Entourage -> Preferences | Edit -> Options)
• Check mail no more frequently than every 20 min
• Quit your email when you need a distraction-free workspace.
• Build a habit of reading email at specific times of day (hourly at most) and with a clear purpose.

Strengthen your scanning techniques

• Scan senders and subjects first. Pass over some messages immediately.
• Scan the first line of each paragraph. Pass over some messages based on that.
• Read some messages all the way through.

Eliminate extraneous email

• Limit list subscriptions and write rules to file the others.
• Put a stop to reply-all chains.
• Pick up the phone or walk to a colleague for a change.
• Separate your work and personal email.

Use Search to find old messages

• Search has become much more effective of late.
• Use keywords to find messages by text or by mail field (sender, subject, etc.)
• Search Sent Items to review a message you sent to someone else.
• Only put items in Trash that you really never want to see again.

Resources

Five Methodologies to Deal With Email Overload (ReadWriteWeb)

Inbox Zero, by Merlin Mann

Getting Things Done (GTD), by David Allen

Send, by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe

File attachments: 

E-mail Etiquette.pdf

How to use Entourage or Outlook to schedule a meeting.

Here is the scenario: you want to schedule a meeting with someone, but you don't know when they are available. If the person keeps up their Outlook or Entourage calendar, then you can see when they are available!

Mac Instructions

Go to your calendar and create a new appointment.

Click the Invite button and add the people whom you would like to meet.

Click the Scheduling tab in the middle of the window.

The colored bars show when the person is busy.

Now you know when the person is free. Optionally, you may send the person a meeting invitation.

Drag the purple slider to a free space in the schedule, or edit the appointment date and time manually.

Click Send Now to email the invitation to all of the attendees.

Attendees will receive an appointment that they may accept, tentatively accept, or decline.

Please note that Windows users may propose a new time, but Macintosh users cannot.

Windows Instructions

Go to the calendar and create a new appointment.

Look in the middle of the window and click the Scheduling tab.

Select the people whom you would like to meet.

The colored bars show when each person is busy.

Now you know when the person is free. Optionally, you may send a meeting invitation.

Drag the white slider to a free space in the schedule, or edit the appointment date and time manually.

Click Send to email the invitation to all of the attendees.

Attendees will receive an appointment that they may accept, tentatively accept, decline, or propose a new time.

Please note that Macintosh users cannot propose a new meeting time.

Configure Entourage to access the Catlin Gabel Exchange server from off-campus.

Mac users, you don't have to use webmail! Entourage is Microsoft's
email and personal organizer application. You may configure Entourage
so that it will work from both on and off-campus. People generally
prefer a desktop mail application to webmail because it checks for new
messages automatically, supports keyboard shortcuts, and handles
attachments more easily.

Open Entourage and go to Tools --> Accounts.

Select your Catlin Gabel account and click Edit.

On the Account Settings tab, change Exchange Server to:
https://webmail.catlin.edu/exchange. "This DAV Service ..." checkbox will automatically turn on. This is good.

On the Advanced tab, change Public Folders Server to:
https://webmail.catlin.edu/public

Confirm that LDAP server is set to cgsdc01 (address book lookups only work from campus).

Click OK and close the Accounts window to save your changes. It may take a few minutes for your mail to reload from the server.

p.s.
You can also increase how often Entourage checks for new mail under
Tools -> Schedules -> Send & Receive All -> Edit.