9 ms·

Don't blame the email 1) Before email I had more letters and phone calls 2) If you disrupt your flow to answer emails and that is not mandated by your manager

Don't blame the email 1) Before email I had more letters and phone calls 2) If you disrupt your flow to answer emails and that is not mandated by your manager, that is your fault. 3) If you disrupt your flow to answer emails because your manager insists, then that is your managers fault. I personally don't even notice emails arrive while I am in the zone. I answer them in batches once free.

walshemj 8y ago
I wish I could up vote this more - people just need to learn some coping strategies.
- mc32 8y ago
  Ok but why put the onus on users “to cope”. Make it a “culture” thing.
  - walshemj 8y ago
    I would also have said its a "professionalism" thing - and the use of coping strategies is term of art for those working with neurodiversity.
    - hinkley 8y ago
      Do you think people who have achieved mastery in their field spend all their time coping? Or is this the first stuff they delegate to somebody else?
  - dv_dt 8y ago
    Culture is formed by repeated individual choices from above and below. Many people pushing back on unreasonable expectations is how expectations can be kept reasonable.
aytekin 8y ago
The best approach I found: Process emails in batches from oldest to newest until you have an empty inbox. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/290175 https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/290175
- stronglikedan 8y ago
  Always go newest to oldest, lest you find that the older ones that you're spending time on are no longer relevant and your time has been further wasted.
  - gioele 8y ago
    Read newest to oldest; act upon/replay from oldest to newest.
    - stronglikedan 8y ago
      Makes sense.
SatvikBeri 8y ago
It's pretty much entirely a matter of cultural expectation. At one job I'd get criticized for being "unavailable" because I took more than an hour to answer emails. Another job polled everyone (in tech) to find out when we did and didn't want meetings, and ended up with no meeting mornings (because people preferred multiple mornings to a few full days.) Guess where I got more work done?
- lev99 8y ago
  Adding "What is an acceptable response time for emails?" to my list of interview questions.
- Consultant32452 8y ago
  I cultivate the idea that you've got a 50/50 chance of successfully reaching me via email. There's 3 people whose emails go into a special folder I monitor regularly. Everyone else goes into the regular folders that gets skimmed once or twice a week. About once a day someone pings me on im to ask me to actually read an email they sent and then I do. It saves a ton of time.
  - dorkwood 8y ago
    I’ve always treated email more like a news feed than a to-do list. To me, stressing out over unread emails is like stressing out over “unread forum posts” or “unread news stories”. Does every email really deserve my attention?
- taylorjacobson 8y ago
  I think we also have to be willing to push back. Answering emails provides a nice dopamine hit (check something off + people-pleasing), so it's both cultural and internal. One of the ways I've been most successful blocking out time for focused work is booking accountability appointments on Focusmate (https://www.focusmate.com https://www.focusmate.com). That reduces the amount of space in my schedule for distractions and emails to absorb.
BeetleB 8y ago
>Before email I had more letters and phone calls Funny: When I forced people to call me by not being on IM, I got far fewer calls than I did IM's. And I doubt people were getting 5-20 letters per day every day. The lower the barrier to communication, the more the communication. Phone presents a higher barrier. >If you disrupt your flow to answer emails and that is not mandated by your manager, that is your fault. If you disrupt your flow to answer emails because your manager insists, then that is your managers fault. I have worked, and know many who have, under managers who will keep flip flopping between the two as it suits them. They will berate you for wasting time on emails, but then they'll penalize you during reviews because customers/peers send in feedback that you are unavailable. I try not to leave it unambiguous. I make sure I ask during interviews: If I check emails 3 times a day and am by default not on IM, is that a problem? I don't mind in-person or phone interruptions, because they are always far fewer. To give you an idea, I have a coworker who sits a few cubicles away from me, and to him it's a pain to drop by my cube when he has questions. Gives you an idea how low the barrier is to using IM whenever something pops in your head.
- hinkley 8y ago
  Someone pointed this out to me and now I can’t unsee it. In places where they interrupt you constantly there is often a pattern of announcing insufficient snacks or food to feed the whole company are in the break room. This conditions people to check their email immediately every time a new message arrives so they don’t miss out.
icedchai 8y ago
This is the correct approach. If you have OCD about answering your email, inbox zero, etc, it's your own fault.
- emodendroket 8y ago
  E-mail becomes a lot more manageable if you create a filter for every kind of automated message/mass-mailing you get. At least if you're not in a position where everyone and their mother needs something from you.
- la6470 8y ago
  No b .. if 9 out of 10 people around me answers their email in 5 mins then there is a certain expectation. When you grow up and have a family to feed you will understand.
- orev 8y ago
  Inbox zero is not at all about answering every email in your inbox, it’s just about reading and deciding if you need to do something with the email. If yes, then you move it to another folder. If no, then archive or delete. It’s very helpful for productivity, so exactly the opposite of your point. You can choose to ignore the actionable ones, or only process your inbox at certain tones, etc...
  - icedchai 8y ago
    I should've put "answering emails or inbox zero." Nobody answers all their emails, right? Well, maybe some people do... If I don't do anything with an email, I just leave it in my inbox. Currently, I have over 17,000 emails in my personal, and over 8000 in my business inbox.
fardo 8y ago
>Don’t blame the email I blame the unspoken expectations that come with email. Email is, in my experience, a political problem rather than a productivity bug. Requests for support on active bugs comes through email. Your manager will request features, or ask questions about your code and status, through email. Coworkers on different teams collaborate through email. To not answer these emails immediately probably would not lead to readily apparent punishment, nor would my manager say “he insisted” I respond that quickly, but other coworkers who prioritize these active issues, are ultimately more visible, promote faster, and get bigger bonuses. By choosing not to play the email game, in many cases, you won’t be punished, but you won’t be rewarded either.
- aeternus 8y ago
  You should be rewarded since your productivity on assigned tasks will theoretically be significantly higher than your coworkers who are prioritizing e-mail and being constantly interrupted. If those coworkers are able to achieve the same level of productivity while also prioritizing and addressing active issues, then they are arguably more valuable and don't they deserve the larger bonus?
  - mbillie1 8y ago
    > You should be rewarded since your productivity on assigned tasks will theoretically be significantly higher than your coworkers who are prioritizing e-mail and being constantly interrupted. Sure, but lots of things _should_ be that are not. The reality is that the appearance of productivity (for example, habitually timely replies to emails) will impact your promotion/compensation more than your actual worth in many, many organizations.
    - nlawalker 8y ago
      Nah, it's that your definition of productivity differs from your organization's. This frequently happens with a lot of other concepts too, like "quality", "maintainability" and "security." Part of being employed is simply compromising with the organization on these things.
sk1pper 8y ago
I’m doing the same thing with Slack, too. I recently turned off slack notifications it’s great. Eventually I’ll notice the icon on my slack or email tab has a notification when I’m not actively doing something, and then I can respond.
coldtea 8y ago
>1) Before email I had more letters and phone calls Way less than the number of work emails people get -- and mostly addressed to specific departments and roles. A mainframe developer in 1970 would not get 30 letters and phone calls per day. >2) If you disrupt your flow to answer emails and that is not mandated by your manager, that is your fault. You'd be surprised. >3) If you disrupt your flow to answer emails because your manager insists, then that is your managers fault. Which, even though a fact, is no relief.
ggregoire 8y ago
Agree. And it's funny the only issue talked here is emails. I'm surrounded by people replying to their Slack/Whatsapp/Messenger/Instagram/Telegram messages all day, basically interrupting anything anytime they receive a notification on their phone. The duration of uninterrupted productive time is probably more like 10 min than 1h 12 min for a lot of people.
ddingus 8y ago
This What I will often do is batch email. Works. Until whatever it is reaches some critical point. Often nothing does. SMS, or a call works then. If those happen too much, I trigger a what is worth what discussion. Perhaps my point of focus needs to wait. And it can. No worries, but for the expectations associated with it will need to be managed along with that wait. There is a cost to everything. Communicating that cost helps with this stuff. Can help very considerably.

walshemj 8y ago

I wish I could up vote this more - people just need to learn some coping strategies.

mc32 8y ago
Ok but why put the onus on users “to cope”. Make it a “culture” thing.
- walshemj 8y ago
  I would also have said its a "professionalism" thing - and the use of coping strategies is term of art for those working with neurodiversity.
  - hinkley 8y ago
    Do you think people who have achieved mastery in their field spend all their time coping? Or is this the first stuff they delegate to somebody else?
- dv_dt 8y ago
  Culture is formed by repeated individual choices from above and below. Many people pushing back on unreasonable expectations is how expectations can be kept reasonable.

aytekin 8y ago

The best approach I found: Process emails in batches from oldest to newest until you have an empty inbox. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/290175 https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/290175

stronglikedan 8y ago
Always go newest to oldest, lest you find that the older ones that you're spending time on are no longer relevant and your time has been further wasted.
- gioele 8y ago
  Read newest to oldest; act upon/replay from oldest to newest.
  - stronglikedan 8y ago
    Makes sense.

SatvikBeri 8y ago

It's pretty much entirely a matter of cultural expectation. At one job I'd get criticized for being "unavailable" because I took more than an hour to answer emails. Another job polled everyone (in tech) to find out when we did and didn't want meetings, and ended up with no meeting mornings (because people preferred multiple mornings to a few full days.) Guess where I got more work done?

lev99 8y ago
Adding "What is an acceptable response time for emails?" to my list of interview questions.
Consultant32452 8y ago
I cultivate the idea that you've got a 50/50 chance of successfully reaching me via email. There's 3 people whose emails go into a special folder I monitor regularly. Everyone else goes into the regular folders that gets skimmed once or twice a week. About once a day someone pings me on im to ask me to actually read an email they sent and then I do. It saves a ton of time.
- dorkwood 8y ago
  I’ve always treated email more like a news feed than a to-do list. To me, stressing out over unread emails is like stressing out over “unread forum posts” or “unread news stories”. Does every email really deserve my attention?
taylorjacobson 8y ago
I think we also have to be willing to push back. Answering emails provides a nice dopamine hit (check something off + people-pleasing), so it's both cultural and internal. One of the ways I've been most successful blocking out time for focused work is booking accountability appointments on Focusmate (https://www.focusmate.com https://www.focusmate.com). That reduces the amount of space in my schedule for distractions and emails to absorb.

BeetleB 8y ago

>Before email I had more letters and phone calls Funny: When I forced people to call me by not being on IM, I got far fewer calls than I did IM's. And I doubt people were getting 5-20 letters per day every day. The lower the barrier to communication, the more the communication. Phone presents a higher barrier. >If you disrupt your flow to answer emails and that is not mandated by your manager, that is your fault. If you disrupt your flow to answer emails because your manager insists, then that is your managers fault. I have worked, and know many who have, under managers who will keep flip flopping between the two as it suits them. They will berate you for wasting time on emails, but then they'll penalize you during reviews because customers/peers send in feedback that you are unavailable. I try not to leave it unambiguous. I make sure I ask during interviews: If I check emails 3 times a day and am by default not on IM, is that a problem? I don't mind in-person or phone interruptions, because they are always far fewer. To give you an idea, I have a coworker who sits a few cubicles away from me, and to him it's a pain to drop by my cube when he has questions. Gives you an idea how low the barrier is to using IM whenever something pops in your head.

hinkley 8y ago
Someone pointed this out to me and now I can’t unsee it. In places where they interrupt you constantly there is often a pattern of announcing insufficient snacks or food to feed the whole company are in the break room. This conditions people to check their email immediately every time a new message arrives so they don’t miss out.

icedchai 8y ago

This is the correct approach. If you have OCD about answering your email, inbox zero, etc, it's your own fault.

emodendroket 8y ago
E-mail becomes a lot more manageable if you create a filter for every kind of automated message/mass-mailing you get. At least if you're not in a position where everyone and their mother needs something from you.
la6470 8y ago
No b .. if 9 out of 10 people around me answers their email in 5 mins then there is a certain expectation. When you grow up and have a family to feed you will understand.
orev 8y ago
Inbox zero is not at all about answering every email in your inbox, it’s just about reading and deciding if you need to do something with the email. If yes, then you move it to another folder. If no, then archive or delete. It’s very helpful for productivity, so exactly the opposite of your point. You can choose to ignore the actionable ones, or only process your inbox at certain tones, etc...
- icedchai 8y ago
  I should've put "answering emails or inbox zero." Nobody answers all their emails, right? Well, maybe some people do... If I don't do anything with an email, I just leave it in my inbox. Currently, I have over 17,000 emails in my personal, and over 8000 in my business inbox.

fardo 8y ago

>Don’t blame the email I blame the unspoken expectations that come with email. Email is, in my experience, a political problem rather than a productivity bug. Requests for support on active bugs comes through email. Your manager will request features, or ask questions about your code and status, through email. Coworkers on different teams collaborate through email. To not answer these emails immediately probably would not lead to readily apparent punishment, nor would my manager say “he insisted” I respond that quickly, but other coworkers who prioritize these active issues, are ultimately more visible, promote faster, and get bigger bonuses. By choosing not to play the email game, in many cases, you won’t be punished, but you won’t be rewarded either.

aeternus 8y ago
You should be rewarded since your productivity on assigned tasks will theoretically be significantly higher than your coworkers who are prioritizing e-mail and being constantly interrupted. If those coworkers are able to achieve the same level of productivity while also prioritizing and addressing active issues, then they are arguably more valuable and don't they deserve the larger bonus?
- mbillie1 8y ago
  > You should be rewarded since your productivity on assigned tasks will theoretically be significantly higher than your coworkers who are prioritizing e-mail and being constantly interrupted. Sure, but lots of things _should_ be that are not. The reality is that the appearance of productivity (for example, habitually timely replies to emails) will impact your promotion/compensation more than your actual worth in many, many organizations.
  - nlawalker 8y ago
    Nah, it's that your definition of productivity differs from your organization's. This frequently happens with a lot of other concepts too, like "quality", "maintainability" and "security." Part of being employed is simply compromising with the organization on these things.

sk1pper 8y ago

I’m doing the same thing with Slack, too. I recently turned off slack notifications it’s great. Eventually I’ll notice the icon on my slack or email tab has a notification when I’m not actively doing something, and then I can respond.

coldtea 8y ago

>1) Before email I had more letters and phone calls Way less than the number of work emails people get -- and mostly addressed to specific departments and roles. A mainframe developer in 1970 would not get 30 letters and phone calls per day. >2) If you disrupt your flow to answer emails and that is not mandated by your manager, that is your fault. You'd be surprised. >3) If you disrupt your flow to answer emails because your manager insists, then that is your managers fault. Which, even though a fact, is no relief.

ggregoire 8y ago

Agree. And it's funny the only issue talked here is emails. I'm surrounded by people replying to their Slack/Whatsapp/Messenger/Instagram/Telegram messages all day, basically interrupting anything anytime they receive a notification on their phone. The duration of uninterrupted productive time is probably more like 10 min than 1h 12 min for a lot of people.

ddingus 8y ago

This What I will often do is batch email. Works. Until whatever it is reaches some critical point. Often nothing does. SMS, or a call works then. If those happen too much, I trigger a what is worth what discussion. Perhaps my point of focus needs to wait. And it can. No worries, but for the expectations associated with it will need to be managed along with that wait. There is a cost to everything. Communicating that cost helps with this stuff. Can help very considerably.