029 Inbox Zero, Inbox One, and Processing Email Messages – ProductivityCast

As we discussed email in the last episode, email management of multiple accounts has its positives and negatives. All of us, Augusto, Art, Francis and I have multiple email accounts. And, to be honest, I don’t know many people who have only one solitary email account. But, whether you have one inbox, or 10 inboxes, one methodology that’s cropped up and lingered for nearly two decades is the idea of Inbox Zero. In this cast, we discuss the history of Inbox Zero (with the pros and cons), some related concepts that I’ve theorized over the years (namely my Inbox One and Tab Zero methods, the former of which I hinted at in the last cast), and get feedback and permutations from the ProductivityCast team. We close with some thoughts on email message processing. Enjoy! Give us feedback! And, thanks for listening! If you'd like to discuss this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post). In this Cast Ray Sidney-Smith Augusto Pinaud Francis Wade Art Gelwicks Show Notes Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9UjeTMb3Yk “Inbox Zero” (GoogleTechTalks) by Merlin Mann Getting Things Done by David Allen 43 Folders Series: Inbox Zero (also by Merlin Mann) Forget ‘Inbox Zero’: Your empty email account means nothing Evernote Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 (ScanSnap Cloud) Ray’s Web browser corollary to Inbox Zero, Tab Zero Raw Text Transcript Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is h:mm:ss.ms to h:mm:ss.ms (e.g., 0:00:00.000,0:00:04.000 starts at 0.00 seconds and ends at 4 seconds in the cast's audio). Read More 1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,870 are you ready to manage your work and 2 00:00:02,159 --> 00:00:06,120 personal world better to live a 3 00:00:03,870 --> 00:00:07,350 fulfilling productive life then you've 4 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:09,809 come to the right place 5 00:00:07,350 --> 00:00:12,090 productivity cast the weekly show about 6 00:00:09,809 --> 00:00:14,480 all things productivity here are your 7 00:00:12,090 --> 00:00:18,180 hosts ray Sydney Smith and Augusto 8 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:21,750 pronounces weight and art Galax welcome 9 00:00:18,180 --> 00:00:25,410 everybody to productivity cast episode 0 10 00:00:21,750 --> 00:00:28,560 to 9 episode 29 inbox zero inbox 1 and 11 00:00:25,410 --> 00:00:30,800 processing email messages we are going 12 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:33,600 to be talking about the all-encompassing 13 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:37,559 inbox and how to deal with your inbox 14 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:40,200 and so I wanted to lead off because as 15 00:00:37,559 --> 00:00:43,230 we discussed email in the last episode 16 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:45,719 email management of multiple accounts 17 00:00:43,230 --> 00:00:48,390 has its positives and negatives all of 18 00:00:45,719 --> 00:00:50,640 us Augusto art Francis and I have 19 00:00:48,390 --> 00:00:53,219 multiple email accounts and to be honest 20 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:56,489 I don't know how many people who have 21 00:00:53,219 --> 00:00:59,010 only one single solitary email account 22 00:00:56,489 --> 00:01:01,260 but whether you have one inbox or 10 23 00:00:59,010 --> 00:01:03,180 inboxes one methodology that's cropped 24 00:01:01,260 --> 00:01:08,010 up over the past decade is the idea of 25 00:01:03,180 --> 00:01:12,000 inbox zero it came from Merlin Mann who 26 00:01:08,010 --> 00:01:13,830 did a google Tech Talk back in 2007 and 27 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,360 I will put a link to that in the show 28 00:01:13,830 --> 00:01:17,850 notes if those of you who want to watch 29 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:20,460 I believe is about an hour or so he 30 00:01:17,850 --> 00:01:22,170 talks about this idea of inbox zero so 31 00:01:20,460 --> 00:01:25,290 in this cast we're gonna discuss a 32 00:01:22,170 --> 00:01:28,409 little bit about inbox zero its pros and 33 00:01:25,290 --> 00:01:30,150 cons some related concepts that I've 34 00:01:28,409 --> 00:01:33,150 kind of thought about over the past 35 00:01:30,150 --> 00:01:36,689 couple of years namely inbox 1 and the 36 00:01:33,150 --> 00:01:38,640 tab 0 methods and get feedback and 37 00:01:36,689 --> 00:01:40,950 permutations from the productivity cast 38 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:44,100 team will close them with some thoughts 39 00:01:40,950 --> 00:01:46,320 on email message processing from my 40 00:01:44,100 --> 00:01:47,909 esteemed colleagues and I think this is 41 00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:49,649 gonna be a great podcast it's gonna have 42 00:01:47,909 --> 00:01:52,740 a lot of really great information for us 43 00:01:49,649 --> 00:01:56,040 all so let's kick it off with who wants 44 00:01:52,740 --> 00:01:57,180 to kind of describe in brief the concept 45 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:59,310 of inbox 0 46 00:01:57,180 --> 00:02:03,390 what Merlin Mann was really talking 47 00:01:59,310 --> 00:02:05,790 about as a as a kind of extension of 48 00:02:03,390 --> 00:02:09,509 getting things done by David Allen and 49 00:02:05,790 --> 00:02:13,110 this idea of of capturing and then 50 00:02:09,509 --> 00:02:13,890 processing ones inboxes I don't know if 51 00:02:13,110 --> 00:02:16,610 any of us 52 00:02:13,890 --> 00:02:18,959 truly understand what the current 53 00:02:16,610 --> 00:02:22,080 definition of that is I know what mine 54 00:02:18,959 --> 00:02:24,270 is and and I'm sure - not matching 55 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:28,980 what's in the literature but in the 56 00:02:24,270 --> 00:02:31,680 mentality of being able to get eliminate 57 00:02:28,980 --> 00:02:34,800 all actionable items and processing 58 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:37,280 items from a common email inbox or a 59 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:40,590 singular email inbox 60 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:42,480 that's to my knowledge that's it in a 61 00:02:40,590 --> 00:02:44,370 nutshell now what have I missed guys I 62 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:47,130 will add a couple of things you know 63 00:02:44,370 --> 00:02:49,200 what what Merlin man was talking about 64 00:02:47,130 --> 00:02:51,510 when he was talking about inbox zero is 65 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:56,280 that David Allen talked about this idea 66 00:02:51,510 --> 00:03:00,660 that your task inbox should really be 67 00:02:56,280 --> 00:03:04,080 cleared out every 24 to 48 hours and I 68 00:03:00,660 --> 00:03:06,780 don't actually know what David Allen was 69 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,920 specifically thinking but I have tended 70 00:03:06,780 --> 00:03:10,940 to think about that from the perspective 71 00:03:07,920 --> 00:03:13,950 that he wasn't talking about necessarily 72 00:03:10,940 --> 00:03:17,489 your communications inboxes that is 73 00:03:13,950 --> 00:03:20,310 email and voicemail boxes and so forth 74 00:03:17,489 --> 00:03:23,720 he was really talking about your in tray 75 00:03:20,310 --> 00:03:27,299 the basket in which you receive your 76 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:30,750 inputs right so whether you took notes 77 00:03:27,299 --> 00:03:34,440 or received letters or memos or whatever 78 00:03:30,750 --> 00:03:37,200 that inbox was the one that I perceive 79 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:40,079 him to frequently be talking about not 80 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:42,720 necessarily your email inbox but it is 81 00:03:40,079 --> 00:03:45,299 another one of those in baskets as he 82 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:49,049 talks about and getting things done so I 83 00:03:45,299 --> 00:03:51,989 get it my thought here is that it's 84 00:03:49,049 --> 00:03:54,600 really important or let me take a step 85 00:03:51,989 --> 00:03:56,579 back what I believe Merlin Mann was 86 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:58,739 talking about and and sort of the the 87 00:03:56,579 --> 00:04:01,140 crux of what he was talking about was 88 00:03:58,739 --> 00:04:05,310 that very similar to the way that we 89 00:04:01,140 --> 00:04:09,269 receive mail in our home mail boxes we 90 00:04:05,310 --> 00:04:12,450 receive a an influx of physical inputs 91 00:04:09,269 --> 00:04:15,780 and we take those out and we deal with 92 00:04:12,450 --> 00:04:17,820 them and we don't put them back in the 93 00:04:15,780 --> 00:04:20,340 mail box right they it's sort of a 94 00:04:17,820 --> 00:04:22,200 one-way conveyor belt if you want to 95 00:04:20,340 --> 00:04:26,340 think of it that way that we process 96 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:29,580 things and go go from there so 97 00:04:26,340 --> 00:04:34,020 if we want to if we want to have a clear 98 00:04:29,580 --> 00:04:36,720 sort of runway in in or ground level in 99 00:04:34,020 --> 00:04:40,410 GTD language we then need to that we 100 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:42,600 need to then have a an ability to 101 00:04:40,410 --> 00:04:46,440 process or clarify those things that are 102 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:49,889 coming in as inputs and and dealing with 103 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:52,080 just the things that are new as they're 104 00:04:49,889 --> 00:04:55,290 coming in the inbox is a poor place to 105 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:58,110 manage inputs if we've got a whole bunch 106 00:04:55,290 --> 00:05:00,720 of other stuff in there that may or may 107 00:04:58,110 --> 00:05:03,900 not even be organized but the things 108 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:06,150 that come in into in should truly be new 109 00:05:03,900 --> 00:05:09,720 stuff coming in not just old stuff 110 00:05:06,150 --> 00:05:12,660 that's been hanging around so one of the 111 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:17,910 interesting things about the time Merlyn 112 00:05:12,660 --> 00:05:22,800 ...