Owning Your Inbox! skills for managing email For Email Users By Dr. Keely Killpack Gaining control over eCommunication.

Outline of Topics Diamonds are forever; email comes close. June Kronholz Controlling Your Inbox Enabling Performance Power Over Email Social Tools & Subscription Mgmt Critical Tips Using Email Sustainable Computing

Sustainable Computing The ultimate computer, our own brain, uses only ten watts of power; one-tenth the energy consumed by a hundred-watt bulb. - Paul Valery

• Networks

• • People that use computers

• • Processors that run applications

• • Memory is the storage of EVERYTHING produced electronically

• Server Farms

• • Primary source of memory

• • Highly inefficient , because they store duplicates of everything from attachments, e-newsletters, drafts of old files, and ALL the content of your email

• Powering the System

• • More than 2% of all electricity generated just for server farms

• • $7.2 billion in annual costs to businesses

• • Highly Inefficient use of power & processing

Adapted from Peters Tech Trumpet Hidden Cost of Cyberspace

Sustainable Computing Virtual SUV Electricity Guzzlers

• What to do?

• Shut PCs down EVERY DAY

• Use Edison or other software to regulate energy when idle

• IT equipment is a growing offender of energy use. Many computing devices consume lots of power even when they are idle - like revving your engine while sitting at traffic lights.

• PCs are often left powered on when not in use in many standard corporate environments. This is not typically measured and will steadily increase with growth in use and rising cost of electricity

• • Ex: A typical medium sized company has 1000 PCs and 100 servers running data centers (in house or outsourced)

• • For the PCs: Roughly $100,000 wasted annually ($100/pc/yr)

• • For the Servers: Roughly $120,000 spent annually (power & cooling)

• • Estimated $220,000 annual cost just to power all the computing equipment! There is a carbon cost (GHG) for this waste of electricity.

• • Savings: Estimated 30% savings of annual costs with controlled PC power and behavior changes

Adapted from Peters Tech Trumpet

Sustainable Computing Just Turning It Off This is the equivalent of 64 cars off the road or planting 28,000 trees! This is 495,000 lbs (248 tons) of CO 2 saved: Just in one company! IMAGINE if our competitors, our neighbors, our schools, our state just did this.. Would we even have a CO 2 problem? If the average medium sized company turned their computers off when not in use, they would save more than $52K in annual energy costs. http://www.1e.com/EnergyCampaign/Calculation.aspx

Controlling Your Inbox Email Volume & Storage The only one who knows what you want delivered to your inbox is you Cindy Cohn Set boundaries for being copied on things... Then enforce it. Adapted from Merlin Mann (Google) & youurcomputerminute.com

• Being a digital packrat is not sustainable

• • If you are compelled to save everything, put emails in a folder for 6 months then burn them on CD and DELETE. Two cycles of this and you will be a believer!

• • If you're a pack-rat or a control freak at the core of your being, that is okay. Today is your opportunity to change!

• 80% of all email comes from common senders

• • It will always be in a colleagues sent folder if you really need it again AND they will resend it if you forget anyway

Enabling Performance

• KEY BEHAVIORS TO FOCUS YOUR MIND

• Your calendar should dictate your work performance

• Time without Interruption

• • Create daily Private Appointments 1-1.5 hours

• • Put your phones on Do Not Disturb

• • Close your door / put on headphones

• • Do work; not meetings, not email, not phone just work

• Schedule times to check email

• • Create daily Check Inbox appointments (2/3 per day)

• • Top of every other hour, etc (this keeps you from constantly checking and having the inbox control your time)

• • Use Phone or IM to handle immediate, brief conversations

Defend Your Calendar The world is moving so fast these days that the one who says it cant be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it. Harry Emerson Fosdick Scheduling time to focus on work AND time for email saves more than: 30 min per DAY 2.5 hr per WEEK 1 full work week per YEAR

The Power of Email Email Processing Inbox - Active work area - NOT filing cabinet Delegate Delete Process INBOX Emails are Work; If You Read It Deal With It! DELEGATE Forward to Appropriate Person DELETE Trash, Archive or File for Reference PROCESS Perform, Reply, Resolve Issue; If Complex, create a draft to proofread and follow up later

Social Networking Tools The Value of Being Connected

• Social Tools

• Current Scenario

• You may be a member of a social network, but this is an addition to using your personal & professional email as your primary communication tool for keeping in touch with distance friends & colleagues

• A Better Approach

• Consider actively leveraging your membership

• Invest the time upfront to load your contacts & train yourself

• Create a recurring, calendar appointment (bimonthly, for 30 min) to dedicate time to update your network

• Consider a quarterly update to share your news consistently

• Use a personal email account for friends & social activities

MySpace is the Wal-Mart of social networking sites. - Chris, from www.moreron.com Example Only Example Only Example Only

Online Subscription Management Eliminating Distractions

• Online Subscription Management

• Current Scenario

• You are currently auto-subscribed to various relevant e-newsletters that are randomly emailed to you, which you skim, sometimes read, then file in your newsletters folder.

• A Better Approach

• Make a list of the valuable newsletters

• Create a recurring, calendar appointment (monthly, for 1 hour) to navigate and review each newsletter. Dont forget to include links!

• Unsubscribe from all of them to REDUCE INBOX CLUTTER, CYBERTRASH and ENERGY INEFFICIENCY

• There is NO NEED to store copies of all of this information.

• If you read something really valuable, consider pasting it into a notes application or document where you will be able to save and use it again without too much digging

Example Only Example Only

Critical Tips for Email EVERYDAY TIMESAVERS

• Use action verbs in email subject line: ACTION REQD, ALERT, STATUS, UPDATE, DUE DATE, etc

• Set Email settings to automatically Spell-check

• Proofread EVERY email you send

• Turn up your spam filter

• Consider calling or Instant Messaging (IM) for quick chats

• Keep emails to half a page

• DO NOT respond to an email with I will get to this tomorrow, etc

• Who REALLY needs to be included or copied?

The inbox is a dangerous place Richard Gingras

Call to Action

• Which of these tips will help you the most?

• Is your power over the inbox more evident now?

• Coaching, Training and further consultation available.