In praise of full inboxes
So, I love GTD jive, but there’s one place where I take a seriously divergent view. My email inbox is never, ever empty. I don’t even try. I had it empty one time and it freaked me out so much that I decided to never do it again. The big advantage to an empty email inbox is supposed to be that your mind can be empty of distractions, etc. But an empty email inbox just made me think more about email! I kept having to go look and see if I’d gotten any email yet. It was totally distracting. Keeping it full means I know where all my email is and I don’t have to think about it.
Like most folks, I’ve got a handful of email accounts and I get my messages either through gmail or through Outlook. Both programs have pretty good search functions (I use Lookout in Outlook) and so far I’ve been successful in finding whatever I need.
My overriding concern with email is finding what I need, when I need it. If search tools will do that, why should I spend my time moving messages around from folder to folder for no discernable advantage? It’s not that I don’t move messages around. I mean, I use filters to drop messages into different folders for various listservs and people. And, in Outlook, I archive a lot of stuff. So I move stuff around, but my inbox always has about two weeks worth of email in it…around 250 - 300 messages. And gmail is even bigger, since I never really have to archive anything. I bet just reading those last two sentences will give some people hives.
Besides, a full inbox means everybody loves me, right?.
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17 opinions for In praise of full inboxes
Eric Mack
Dec 7, 2004 at 10:19 pm
Interesting theory. Does it apply to in-boxes and desk, as well? I lost my desk once…
http://www.ericmackonline.com/ica/blogs/emonline.nsf/dx/help-i-cant-find-my-in-box
Bren
Dec 7, 2004 at 10:42 pm
Yeah, it’s only my email philosophy. My desk and physical inbox sometimes (ok, frequently) look like my email inbox, but that’s never the intent. :-)
sandra
Dec 9, 2004 at 1:29 pm
I can never empty my inbox either–glad I’m not alone in this. Of course my gmail is full now
Mike
Dec 9, 2004 at 11:19 pm
Glad you like lookout. Its great to hear stories like this. When people first start searching their personal content, even if they like the search engine, they generally keep diligently categorizing and filing away…. But ask them again after using search for about 3 months, and invariably, you hear reports of people that used to have 1000 folders now have 100, people that had 100 now have 10, and people like me (and perhaps you) are now down to just the necessary few:
- inbox
- archive
Maybe someday I’ll realize that I still have one too many!
And if you still don’t believe there is ROI out there - here is the math: 5 secs filing each msg * 100 msgs / day * 5 days per week = 41 minutes each week saved.
Belshe's Ideas
Dec 9, 2004 at 11:25 pm
“In praise of full inboxes”
I didn’t write that, it was written by Slacker Manager, and its a ful little read. You’ll see I even posted a comment on his blog…. But, its really fascinating to watch email evolve when people are given a tool like email search. The first reaction p…
Marc Orchant
Dec 10, 2004 at 4:42 am
Bren, Mike:
I appreciate your logic but I’m far too satisfied with the sense of accomplishment that an empty Inbox provides to just leave everything in “In”. I agree with Mike (he and I have discussed this on a number of occasions) that a tool like Lookout allows you to seriously flatten your hierarchy of folders which makes filing a lot faster and finding stuff a no-brainer.
Marc's Outlook on Productivity
Dec 10, 2004 at 4:52 am
Arguing the merits of an empty Inbox
Bren
Dec 10, 2004 at 6:51 am
Mike, I’m with you (thanks for Lookout!)…that ROI is interesting, but I don’t spend any seconds filing. Anything that gets filed, goes there automatically. Stuff from my boss goes into his folder upon receipt, etc… That just helps me visually see which messages are more important to me when they arrive. Over time, everything that’s in a folder gets auto-archived into my ‘Inbox’ archive.
And Marc…c’mon over to the dark side, man! The water’s fine! :-)
Andreas Weinberger
Dec 10, 2004 at 6:57 am
I am working with Outlook and Lookout on two separate PCs (Office PC and Notebook). My personal style of working with Outlook always leads to a empty Inbox:
- check headers and delete everything that´s obviously rubbish
- group by type
- check and answer all meeting requests that are not already out-of-date
- open new E-Mail and read it
- if it needs an action at once, then answer and delete or archive the original mail
- if it needs an action later create a task (mail is moved into the task automatically)
So basically I look into my mailbox from time to time and within minutes it is empty again.
Best wishes
Andreas
Marc Orchant
Dec 10, 2004 at 9:58 am
Bren… not going to do it. Wouldn’t be prudent.
(with apologies to Bush the Elder) ;^)
Check on the comments on my post - I have a lot of support here on the light side!
Des Paroz
Dec 22, 2004 at 4:46 pm
I posted these same comments over at Office Zealot GTD Zone as well….
I am definitely a fan of an empty inbox. I’ve been following GTD for over 2 years, and this is consistently one of the key behaviours that I need to work on to get the system right.
There’s just something special about walking away from your office each night, looking back and noting your physical and email inboxes are empty.
For email, we use Lotus Notes. I religiously file emails needing action into my “@Action” folder, and also organise a NA on my Palm. As I utilise mNotes, I sync the @Action folder over to my Palm as well, so whereever I am, I can check the NA list, and still deal with emails in the Notes system.
To me, the empty inbox, projects list and the weekly review are the cornerstones of a successful GTD implementation.
On The Go
Dec 30, 2004 at 5:44 pm
Slacker Manager - In Praise of Full Inboxes
I just made an entry on Slacker Manager’s weblog entry on In praise of full inboxes:
Lifehacker
Feb 18, 2005 at 7:38 am
The pilers speak
In a recent post on email Filers versus Pilers (those who organize their email in folders and those who let it live in their inbox indefinitely), I asked Pilers to explain their systems for being responsive and organized with an…
ClearContext Corporate Weblog
Apr 5, 2005 at 5:25 pm
Making Email Work Again - ClearContext 2005 Email Usage Survey Analysis
“I’m drowning in email.”
ClearContext Corporate Weblog
Apr 6, 2005 at 4:35 pm
Making Email Work Again - ClearContext 2005 Email Usage Survey Analysis
“I’m drowning in email.”
Mark
Sep 16, 2005 at 9:27 am
Piling is the way to go. I believe it so strongly that I’ve designed training seminar to eliminate folders all together. http://www.cnxn.ca/Outlook%20Training.htm
mark
Jun 2, 2006 at 1:45 pm
upate to link above….
http://cnxn.ca/NoFoldersTutorial.html