Take Back Your Inbox: How To Better Manage Your Inbox

If you are feeling overwhelmed by email overload, you are not alone. The average email user receives more than 50 messages a day and many business users are hit up with over 200 emails a day. It is time to take your inbox back, and with a little help from Scott Allen and Timothy Ferriss, I will tell you how to better manage your email.

While at SxSWi in Austin, TX, I had the great fortune to meet veteran entrepreneur and email consulting expert Scott Allen, co-author of “The Virtual Handshake,” (with David Teten). This post takes the best points from Allen’s chapter “Manage the Email Deluge,” and Ferriss’ “The Four Hour Work Week.” Both offer time-saving tips for managing your inbox, and your entire life for that matter. While some of their ideas seem radical, I promise they can help alleviate your inbox woes.

In short, Allen and Ferriss advocate handling email when you choose to rather than when it arrives. This involves checking your inbox less frequently, making quick decisions as to how you will handle each message, and creating a simple organizational structure using folders.

Review Regularly But Not Often
The best way to regain control of your inbox, is to develop a regular schedule for checking email. Checking email on the fly any time your inbox beeps is a very poor use of time. Allen and Ferriss, both, recommend turning off your email alert tool and checking your inbox once or twice a day. Ferriss even suggest setting an email auto-response that tells senders when you check your inbox and to let them know that you will eventually get back to them.

I will be the first to admit that for many people this is not practical, but if you are checking your inbox every twenty minutes or on the fly, try setting specific hours in the day to check mail. Honestly, if something is urgent, the sender should pick up the phone or ping you through instant messaging.

Keep Your Inbox Empty
Keeping your inbox empty does not mean you should immediately respond to every email. In fact, Allen argues the opposite. Referencing David Allen’s (no relation) “Getting Things Done,” Scott Allen explains that you have three options for dealing with messages: 1) Do It, 2) Delegate It, or 3) Defer It. If you can answer the email in two minutes or less, knock it out. If you are not the right person to answer the email, forward it immediately to the person who is. And most importantly, if an answer can wait, place the email in a To-Do folder and handle it later when you have more time.

Organize Around Action, Not Data
A simple organizational structure is critical. However, instead of organizing folders based on projects or subjects, you should create folders based on how you should handle email. Allen recommends the following folders:

• Inbox: A temporary place for your emails to arrive and sit until you to determine how to deal with each one.
• Deadlines: Create a separate folder for each deadline (ie: by day, week, project, etc.) The folder will dictate when you answer the email. For example, emails placed in the Tuesday folder will be addressed on Tuesday.
• ASAP: This is a folder for emails that you can answer whenever you have time; as Allen points out ASAP does not mean urgent, it means any time you can get to it.
• Delegated: This folder should store emails that have been sent to others to deal with. You should check this periodically to make sure each message has been answered.
• Archive: These folders can be organized by project, customer, date, data or whatever works for you. If you use your delete folder as an archive; be sure to periodically save all messages onto a disk or external hard drive and purge the folder.

Don’t over Organize, Rely on Search
Don’t make your organizational structure too complicated; it should be intuitive and easy to follow. Most email clients offer search capabilities, which can help you find what you are looking for.

Use Multiple Email Accounts
Allen writes “you can save yourself much time and aggravation, and potentially protect your job, by keeping your personal and business email accounts segregated.” I have been doing this for years and have even created a third email account for e-commerce, ezines and other becn mail (becn, unlike spam is permission-based email that you want to read but just not immediately). Keeping separate inboxes is a great way to prioritize your life and keep you focused while at work. In addition, having a second email account with a free webmail provider like Gmail or Yahoo ensures that if you leave your current employer, you will still have a way to be contacted via email. If you find it difficult to manage your multiple email accounts or you can’t access your personal email at work, you can use NutshellMail, which offers a free service to help you manage, access and monitor your various messaging accounts.

If you found this post to be informative, I highly recommend you read The Virtual Handshake,The Four Hour Work Week, and Getting Things Done. All three books are about taking back your life and leveraging technology to simplify how you work and live. They have had a very significant on my life and have enabled me to get more (work and play) out of my day.

Twitter: For the “Anti-Socially Social”

Is Twitter anti-social? Twitter, the SMS-enabled social networking service, has become increasingly popular over the past year. This was quite apparent at the SxSW Interactive Conference in Austin, TX, where the most common pick-up line was “What is your Twitter name?” (Second only to “I follow you on Twitter.”) At every panel I went to, I noticed audience members meticulously thumbing messages on their phones to the Twitter community instead of listening attentively and politely to the speakers. At most conferences, this would be considered rude and unprofessional. But SxSW is not like most conferences and I did not hear of any panelist complaining. So I didn’t think much of it.

Then one night at dinner with @ericaogrady (Erica O’Grady), @tamar (Tamar Weinberg), @trevinorama (Marla Trevino) @antifreeze (Seth Blank), @davidlyman (David Lyman) I barely noticed the silence at the table as we all sat typing “tweets” into our phones. In fact, @ericaogrady and I (half jokingly) spent much of the dinner communicating to each other over Twitter even though we were sitting directly across the table. No doubt, this was unusual, and perhaps some might call it anti-social. But I would like to propose a new term to describe Twitter users:

Twitter users are “Anti-Socially Social.”

I usually don’t speak in oxymoron, but in this case it is perfectly appropriate. Twitter is the ultimate just-in-time social network, accessible anywhere there is cell-phone coverage (ie: everywhere). The people using Twitter are inherently social; Twitter is, after all, a social networking service. The problem is, however, Twitter is utterly addictive and perhaps insanely distracting.

In the corporate world, it is considered rude to send messages on your phone while attending a meeting, panel, and especially dinner. In fact, I once got called out for doing so during a meeting with a very high-up C-level. Even hanging out with my friends, I am harassed for messaging into my phone, instead of conversing like a normal human. But I am not anti-social. In fact, I am way too social and Twitter is my pusher-man.

While, I am the first to admit that you should probably limit your phone use when in the presence of other people, I can’t sit back and let people say that Twitter is for the anti-social. So next time, someone complains that you are being anti-social for sending too many tweets, remember to tell them “Dude, I am not anti-social…I am anti-socially social.”

Yours Truly,

@mschmulen

Bahambug: 50% of Companies Fire Employees for Internet and Email Abuse

According to a study published by InfoWorld and conducted by the American Management Association (AMA) and The ePolicy Institute, more than 50% of companies have fired employees for abusing email and the Internet. The stats are alarming but not surprising.

Internet Misuse
84% have been fired for accessing porn and other inappropriate sites

34% have been fired for excessive personal use of the Internet

Email Misuse
64% have been fired for violating company email policy

62% have been fired for sending emails with offensive language

25% have been fired for excessive personal use of email

22% have been fired for violating confidentiality rules in email

How are companies monitoring email and internet use?
66% monitor Internet connections

65% use software to block inappropriate Web sites

18% block URLs to prevent access to external blogs

Methods for Monitoring
45% track content, keystrokes, and time spent at the keyboard

43% store and review computer files

12% monitor activity on blogs (if they allow access)

10% monitor social-networking sites (if they allow access)

Companies keep track of their employees behavior due to Legal Fears
24% of companies have had their emails subpoenaed

15% of companies have been sued based on employees misuse of email

I know its frustrating to have your online activity monitored so closely, but we all have to admit that companies not only have the right but they also have good cause to do so. Beyond legal liabilities, companies face security risks for allowing unrestricted access to external messaging and content sites. In addition, many companies are subject to strict document retention regulations and can be heavily fined for not storing all electronic communications and content. So if you are going to access personal messages or surf the Web while at work, please do so smartly.

Email is the Ultimate Social Network: Watch out Facebook and Myspace.

MySpace and Facebook are generally accepted as the largest and most popular social networks on the Web; but I would like to propose that this is a misconception. The largest and most popular social network is….YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT.

Most of us have been using email long before Friendster came and went and Facebook rose and shined. Over the years we have collected hundreds and thousands of contacts. We communicate with these people regularly through email. It is likely that we have not even met many of these people in person. It is likely that we were connected to some of these people through others that are already in our contact list.

The problem with email as we know it today, however, is that it does not do a good job of unhinging the underlying social graph within our contact list. Helping people connect to friends of friends and exposing personal profiles of these contacts has been exclusively the role played by social networks. But that is about to change.

Xobni (Inbox spelled sdrawkcab…I mean backwards) is a new startup that has created an add-on application to Outlook. Xobni not only helps you to better organize your email and contacts, but it also tells you everyone in your contact list that has sent an email to each other…it “expose the hidden social network” in your email. It therefore connects your entire contact universe, even if certain contacts are not in your MySpace or Facebook friends list.

Xobni is simply brilliant, and the Valley Behemoths Yahoo and Google agree. Both have announced plans to add features to their existing email and personalized home page services that resemble the key attributes of many social networks.

While Google is holding its card close to the vest, Yahoo has been more forthcoming. They claim to be testing a method that can automatically determine the strength of your relationship to someone by how often you exchange e-mail and instant messages with him or her (very Xobni-esque). For those who opt-in, Yahoo will share contacts and display personal profiles in a similar fashion to Facebook. According to Brad Garlinghouse, VP at Yahoo, “The exciting part is that a lot of this information already exists on our network, but it’s dormant.” Consequently, adding social network-like features is a natural evolutionary step for email service providers.

Given that Yahoo and Google/Gmail already have hundreds of millions of users, I think with time, they will prove that email is, in fact, the ultimate social network. Factor in the instant messaging services not currently offered by most social networks, Facebook and MySpace may find themselves playing catch-up with the Big Boyz.

For more information on this subject, check out Saul Hansell’s article in the NY Times, “Inbox 2.0: Yahoo and Google to Turn E-mail into a Social Network.”

From Corporate To Startup

I am often asked about the difference between working for a large corporation and working for myself. The mix of inquisitors is interesting: some are future entrepreneurs strapped down by the fear of not having a stable job, some are very happy with their corporate employment and simply can’t understand why I would give up an interesting job to go on my own, some have already ventured on their own and simply want to share experiences, some are family members who fear for my future…I don’t blame them, they are the first people I will go to if I need a loan. But my answer is always the same: There exist pros and cons for both, but in general I am extremely happy with my decision to walk away from Corporate America to realize my vision and attempt to launch a business of my own.

In short working for a Fortune 100 Corporation was a great learning experience. I enjoyed the stability of a regular income, well-defined tasks, and regular faces. What I did not enjoy was the stability of known-but-capped income, doing the same thing every day, and dealing with office politics. The greatest benefits include gaining real-world knowledge, developing real skill sets, and learning how a large business operates. But the main draw back was feeling under-challenged and perhaps under-appreciated. Quite simply, at some point my learning curve began to plateau.

To describe what it is like to work for myself, I can not simply state the inverse of the pros and cons for working for a corporation. That would be too obvious. For starters, I made some very serious sacrifices, not only monetary but personal sacrifices. I lost friends, I lost a girl friend, and at times, I lost confidence. The challenges and pressures were and continue to be intense. Going off on your own is a big deal; very few people do it and so everyone is interested in watching your progress…Don’t let them get to you. The fear of not knowing how you are going to pay your bills is intimidating, building a strong team of co-founders and employees is challenging, and selling your vision to investors or even your friends and family is daunting. But these pressures and fears are what I love most about the startup life.

I love that in a single day, I have to wear multiple hats as a marketer, engineer, financial analyst, human resource manager, accountant, lawyer, copy-writer, researcher and overall problem-solver. I love that every day is different, complete with new challenges, successes and even failures. I love the learning process, the introspective examination, and the personal growth. Even though everyday is two steps forward and one step backward, nothing is more satisfying than looking up from your desk and seeing your team working hard to realize your vision.

If you are like me and enjoy taking risks, tackling challenges and solving different problems every day, then perhaps going out on your own is a good idea. However, I implore you not take this decision lightly. Ideas come and go all the time; the idea is the easy part. Before you go off on your own you must ask yourself, “Am I ready?” “Do I have the personality of entrepreneur?” “Have I weighed the benefits and assessed the risks?” “Am I ready to sacrifice much of what I have spent my life to build?”

I never regret my decision to go off on my own, but only because when I did, I knew I was ready. In my next post, I will discuss the check list I went through before submitting my letter of resignation.

Our Story

This is our story.

It is an account of two best friends who have set out to solve real problems for real people. Specifically we have taken on the charge to make the ways we all communicate online easier to manage and more accessible. After extensive research, we came up with NutshellMail.com, a free web-based service that enables you to better access and manage all your email and social networking accounts through any inbox you already use.

This blog will not only chronicle the experiences and challenges we face in trying to launch an internet startup, but it also addresses the very issues our solution was designed to resolve, namely:

• How can we better manage all our messaging accounts?
• How can we access personal messages at work without violating company policy?
• How can we keep our children safe online?
• How can we be more productive with online communication?

This journal will provide useful advice, statistics, news, and our personal thoughts on both business and the Web. Hopefully with your feedback, it will facilitate discussions and educate readers (as well as ourselves) about the Web, online communication, social media and how these forces continue to change our lives. We are particularly interested in how the Web affects the way we connect, communicate and collaborate, both, in our personal lives and in the workplace.

We believe the Web is a big, continuous conversation. We hope you find our posts to be informative and entertaining. We pledge to you, our readers, to always be honest, to speak straight, and to listen to your feedback. We encourage you to post comments, introduce new subjects and invite your friends to join the conversation.

Sincerely,

Mark and David

The Nuts at NutshellMail.com

Social Media is Good For Business

Over the past several years, we have witnessed a Social Media Revolution. MySpace, Facebook, Youtube and Flickr (just to name a few) are no longer obscure Web 2.0 distractions, but popular applications used by hundreds of millions of people and businesses. To ignore or revolt against it is futile, and most importantly, bad for business. Instead companies should learn to embrace the power and influence social media has unleashed.

To all you C-levels, if you haven’t read the Cluetrain Manifesto, you should. In short it highlights that the internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media. The days of corporate talk and spin are over. Well at least, their banter is less convincing to consumers. Quite simply markets are less responsive to corporate spin. Rather markets want to hear a human voice.

So how can companies benefit from Social Media? By allowing their employees to talk to the market, which happens to consist of their friends, family and even drinking buddies. These people are your market, your employees, your critics and your advocates. Companies shouldn’t fear Social Media, they should embrace it.

Managers need to realize that their companies are comprised of real people who know how to talk to real people. Social Media is the enabler. While I acknowledge the fear of loss productivity is real and no doubt some employees will abuse the right, clear policy and guidelines should limit abuse.

Don’t fear Social Media. It’s here to stay. Embrace it.

For more on this subject, check out the latest Ragan Poll: Fear drives managers to ban social media at work.

Access Denied!!! Why can’t I email at work?

Can you imagine a place where you can not talk to your friends without a chaperon or tend to personal matters without permission? I can. I call it Hunters Creek Elementary School, but for many others it is called the Office. It’s sad but true: Millions of employees have had their access to personal email and social networking sites cut off.

Almost all corporations monitor e-mail communications; but did you know that nearly half of these companies completely restrict employee access to popular email and social networking sites like Gmail, Hotmail, Facebook and MySpace? There is a good chance you know this from personal experience…you are not alone. As a former corporate worker bee, I can relate to the frustrations shared by millions of people who have found themselves blocked from their personal email and social networking messages in the workplace.

Not all corporations are evil, so why do so many block employee access to external messaging accounts when it is clearly an unpopular policy? The answer may surprise you because “Productivity” is not the reason. Most corporate e-mail and internet policies are predicated on security, legal liability and regulatory concerns. In truth, the decision to restrict access is a prudent business practice.

Let’s look at the security issues first. Unrestricted access to external messaging accounts exposes company computing systems to the threat of viruses and other unwanted intrusions. It only takes one erroneous download to take down a single computer or even worse, an entire network. Even with the best-in-breed anti-virus applications, protecting computers from web downloads is difficult and breaches occur all the time. The bottom line is the cost, time and lost productivity associated with repairing or replacing an infected computer is high and the ROI on granting employee access to personal messages is low.

So what of the legal liabilities? It’s sad, but we live in a litigious society and an offensive message sent from an employee’s computer can result in the company being sued. Furthermore, because it is difficult and expensive to monitor external messaging accounts in real time, any employee can willingly or inadvertently send confidential or proprietary information without the company finding out. Just think of the scenario where a financial analyst sends a message to a friend about a new deal they are working on. It sounds harmless, but in truth, that employee has just passed on insider information and that can result in investor lawsuits, government fines and even criminal charges. By the time the company finds out, the damage has been done. While instances like this are rare, they do happen and many corporations aren’t willing to take the risk just to keep their employees connected.

This brings us to the next major factor: Government regulation. There are many laws and government organizations regulating corporate email security, privacy and document retention practices. At least eight federal agencies and numerous state agencies have authority to enforce these laws, which include: Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, SEC Rule 17A, NASD Rules 3010 & 3110, the USA Patriot Act and the Cyber Security Enhancement Act of 2002. The legal landscape for online messaging is complicated and unclear; however, the fines for violating these rules can be hefty. In February 2006, Morgan Stanley was fined $15 million by the US Security and Exchange Commission for its failure to properly retain email messages, and there are many similar examples.

Email is dead, Long live email

IIs email dead? I have heard this declaration many times and from several people you might call Web 2.0 influencers. Honestly, it makes me laugh. I mean no disrespect, but how can anyone make such a statement?

The proof, after all, is in the pudding. In the U.S. alone, there are over 170 million email users; that represents roughly 60% of the U.S. population and more than 90% of U.S. internet users. There are more than 1.4 billion active email accounts worldwide. According to eMarketer, email is the most commonly used application of the internet, and 48% of users report spending at least one hour per day checking email.

So why do some very well-educated people make such statements? Is the number of active email accounts declining? No!!! In fact, eMarketer claims that the number of email users in the U.S. will grow 14% to 194 million users by 2011.

So what’s up?

To give these “influencers” the benefit of doubt, I think what they are trying to say is that there exist newer and in some cases better ways for users to communicate over the Net. Instant messaging services such as AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Skype, etc. are great for real-time communication. Many corporations are utilizing these services to improve worker efficiency. In addition, instant messaging aggregation companies, such as Meebo and Trillian have enjoyed tremendous user adoption.

IM is only one of the many new online communication technologies that have began to proliferate. Many users are going to their social networks to communicate with friends and colleagues. Web2.0 startups like Twitter and Jabber have merged SMS text messaging and IM and are currently the talk of the town (at least on the Web).

I will concede that many of these new services offer the advantage of real-time two-way communication. I personally utilize many of the above-mentioned services; and they are great. But I will never give up my many email accounts. I will continue to use them as my primary form of online communication. Furthermore, as long as most global companies continue to rely on email, it is not going anywhere. If email is dead, then long live email.

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