I recently realized that as one goes up the hierarchy, the need to manage the electronic mailbox effectively is more urgent. The count of emails to be worked upon on a daily basis goes up to 100s (may be 1000s, even). And thus the skill to have and maintain an organized mailbox is a must-have.
- Anything email that may be worked upon and finished in less than 120 seconds should be done there and then.
- Have a strong folder structure in your mailbox and move the email to its appropriate folder immediately after you have read it.
- Archive mails regularly depending on your daily usage. I do it fortnightly.
- Any email that needs follow up should be flagged immediately with a subsequent date.
- Delete any emails that you are confident you would not be getting back to. They clutter not only space, but take up a lot of time later when we are trying to look for something more important.
- Refrain from sending mails like Okay, and Thank you. Before hitting the send button, think if you would send this mail if you were charged 1$ for it. If no, then probably the mail is not needed. It is a a good idea to include Thank you in your signature itself.
