Welcome to the Inbox Era.
Having worked in very email-centric organizations in the high-tech industry for the past 10+ years, I’ve become accustomed to dealing with a very high volume of email. For years I’ve tried to discuss my trials and tribulations with dealing with the onslaught of information coming at me via my inboxes with my friends and family, only to find them a little bewildered. They simply weren’t experiencing the same issues.
However, in the days leading up to 2010, if there’s one new year’s resolution I’ve heard from those same friends and family more than any other, it’s an intense desire to get their inboxes under control.
Maybe I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. I suppose you’re wondering just who the hell I am, and why you should listen to me when it comes to learning how to better manage your email?
My name is Jason Clarke. I’m a 34 (almost 35) year-old father of 3 young children, and devoted husband. I’ve been blogging for 7 years, including 5 years writing for the AOL-owned publications Download Squad and TUAW. My day jobs for the past 10+ years have all been in the software industry, as an Implementation and Support Technician, Software Test Engineer, Project Manager, and currently hold the positions of Manager of Technical Services and IT Manager for a Vancouver-based software company.
When dealing with software people, one thing quickly becomes clear: they like to communicate via email. And the only people who I know that like to communicate via email more than software people are technology bloggers. So, given that I’ve spent the better part of the past 10 years involved in both camps, I’ve become accustomed to managing an average of 100-200 new emails per day, per group. That’s 200-400 emails per day, typically. And sometimes it’s worse – much worse.
Just think what that means.
If I receive 200 email messages in the course of a notional 8-hour work day, that means that I get an average of 2.4 minutes to handle each email message. And that’s assuming I do nothing but deal with email all day! Of course, many of those emails are one-liners requiring no more than 30 seconds to read and file or delete, but that is balanced out by the multi-page screeds that must be truly studied.
Now consider that the blog-related email I receive is at the same volume, and must be dealt with in my own time. I certainly don’t have another 8 hours in my day for non-business email, never mind any personal messages I get.
I must be absolutely crushed under the weight of all of these incoming email messages, right? Well, if I’m honest, yes… sometimes I am. But, most weeks my inbox is completely emptied at some point, often many times during the week. That’s right – zero messages in any of my inboxes.
If this seems impossible, it’s not. And if you’re struggling to tame your inbox, I’d like to help you get it under control.
Please note: I've moved my active blogging over to a new site, called Jason Clarke - Infinite Bass Line. I will leave this site up indefinitely, but if you're interested in my latest posts please consider visiting the new site.