Incorrect email handling is one of the major pitfalls in ineffective time management which could be inefficacious.
Many studies have shown that time wasted reading emails is the major contribution to ineffective working in the workplace. The truth is a working day could consist of many distractions, such as telephone calls, people stopping at the desk for questions and instant messages.
On a normal day you can receive anywhere between 120 and 150 emails a day. On average if you dedicate 1 minutes of your time to read each email, this will easily equate to 2 to 3 hours a day!! At this point we are only talking about reading emails and not even action or reply to mails.
For a project or operations manager this is very concerning. The key element in any operation is productivity, and one of the factors effecting productivity is time management.
There are a number of methods that can be used to manage email and productivity. Some of these take months of practice, but here is some simple advice:
- Schedule a time to read your emails or messages. You have enough distractions during a day and every interruption like the “ding” on your email client or Blackberry device could easily put us off what we are working on. If possible close your email client or switch off your wireless email device. One hour is all it takes to Read/Classify and action emails.
- Classification is key. All emails can be classified as either “Reference” or “Action”. Statistics shows that using such a technique can save 50 minutes per day, almost 7 hours per week.
Create folders in your email client and move emails to these folders. Try keeping your inbox empty. If you have hundreds or thousands of emails in your inbox then that is a good indications of bad email management, leading to inefficient time management.
- Reference email: These are emails that you receive where you do not have a task or action but you wish to keep it, so you can refer to it later.
- Action emails: Data that you use to complete and action a task.
- One at a time: Avoid the temptation to open emails at random. Most people open emails where the subject is of interest. However, working through emails one by one has proven to be more effective and increase productivity.
More to tips to come soon …………..
