Efficient E-Mail

I spent last week traveling around the United States. I had to go to Los Angeles for work during the first half of the week and then to visit my son with his family in Ohio. During that time, I built up quite a bit of e-mail and so I spent today going through all the messages I put off until I got home.

While in Los Angeles, I got to spend some face-to-face time with my boss and could see that he has very few e-mails sitting in his inbox. I consistently have over 100, and that is much better than I used to be when I had close to 1000. I could still improve and so I hope to share a few tricks that I hope to use more myself.

Growing up my dad always counseled that you should try to touch an item only once. He generally meant that for cleaning up the house but it also applies to efficiency with e-mail. When you get and receive an e-mail, you should try to deal with it immediately instead of going through all of your messages and then going back to respond to the important ones. This is an area where I could use some help.

My wife is someone that likes everything put away. If she sees something out, she will put it away. If it is a new item and there is no home for it, she will make one, sometimes without telling me where it ended up and so I have to hunt for it. I tend to let things rest on a shelf or counter for way too long. The same holds true for my inbox. Most e-mail programs have folders to help you sort and keep those important messages. I have started creating folders but could probably be better at it. Then so many e-mails won't clutter my inbox.

Finally, not all e-mails need to be saved. This is one area I am great at. I have my trash folder set to delete messages after 1 to 2 months depending upon if it is my personal or work e-mail. Should I accidentally delete something, I can always rummage through the trash and find it for a short time. There are a lot of unneeded e-mails that can be deleted and so don't feel bad throwing them away.

I'm sure there are a few more ways to keep your inbox down to only a few messages. I would be interested in finding out other tricks so don't hesitate to leave a comment and let me know what works for you.

Increased Efficiency?

Computers are supposed to make our lives easier. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. When I first started doing database consulting to help pay my way through college, I had one of my customers question why computers were even necessary. My customer was a glove manufacturer based in Tacoma, Washington. His company had been making gloves since 1917 and didn't need computers when they started. His question caused me to think if computers have really made our lives easier or not.

Unfortunately for my customer, things had changed significantly enough that there was no way you could go back to doing business without a computer. In 1917, union rules didn't exist that do today. These rules are the reason for 90% of his computing needs. Today a seamstress in the glove factory is paid a different amount for each type of stitch used to make the glove. That and several other rules mean that the glove manufacturer would be out of business without extensive computer bookkeeping.

When I first started questioning whether or not computers were helpful in my own life, I was going to college. My primary use of computers was as a word processor to help turn in homework. Having done one or two papers on a typewriter, I felt the computer was a huge benefit for me in getting my assignments done. I would have flunked out of school without spell-check.

Today I look at my own children and see how they use the computer. My oldest daughter is in college and she uses her laptop computer constantly. She even brings it to class every day for taking notes. My three other kids are constantly using the family computer for their homework as well.

Unfortunately there is a downside to all this increased productivity. There is now more time to relax. Instead of going outside and hanging out with friends, kids are sitting at home and spending time on Facebook or MySpace. When my oldest daughter was home during the summer, she spent so much time on Facebook, I had to turn off her computer's access to our home Internet connection. Recently we have had to limit Facebook time for our youngest daughter as well.

Once again I have to ask myself if the computer is really helping me and my family. I think that having a computer is now a necessity. If you don't have a computer that your kids can use to do schoolwork, they are at a huge disadvantage. However some of the efficiencies gained through having a computer are negated by some of our leisure activities.

Oh good, my oldest son just finished his game. Now it is my turn to slay dragons or race electronic images on the Playstation 3.