ClearContext Corporate Blog

Here are a few recent email management articles to chew on:

Lifehack.org: Unanswered Email Undermines Your Productivity

“What we don’t see clearly is that we do damage to our reputations and to our time management systems when we don’t manage individual habits. A bad habit that becomes a ritual can drag down our productivity, without our knowing it.”

bijansabet.com: Little things to make email better

“1 [of 4 tips] – I’m paying close attention to the number of emails I send out. … The more emails you send, the more you get back.”

Career Realism: 9 Tips for Mastering Email Overload

“Taming email means training the senders to put the burden of quality back on themselves. What’s the best way to train everyone around you to better email habits? You guessed it: You go first. Set the example, be the role model. Demonstrate a policy for a month, and if people like it, ask them to start doing the same.”

I knew that Jason Clarke and I shared similar ideas on email management when I read his 2005 post If Your Inbox Has More Than a Screenful of Messages In It, You’re Rude.  On his new blog Inbox Era, he again makes the case for clearing the Inbox:

“To truly get a handle on your email communication, you need to have a goal of emptying your inbox regularly. When asked why they do it, most people who keep everything in their inbox respond with, “I can’t delete it; what if I need it?”

The problem with this kind of thinking is that it doesn’t scale. If you are only receiving 5 email messages per day, then sure, you can probably keep everything in your inbox and find the items you need when you need them. But if you start receiving 50 email messages per day, that gets a lot harder, very quickly. I would argue that even if you only receive 5 emails per day, you should still empty your inbox as a habit, because your email volume will invariably increase over time. Good habits are just as hard to break as bad ones are, so instill good ones now.

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Happy New Year from the ClearContext team!  Thanks so much to everyone who has upgraded to v5!

There are a number of big changes in ClearContext v5. This post provides information about these changes, links to relevant forum discussions, and a little bit about what we’re working on now.  We hope this will post will answer your questions about v5 and help you get the most out of the software.

We’ve posted a list of changes in v5 on the upgrade page, along with a little more detail in this blog post.  We’ve also (mostly) updated the User Guide.

Key changes in v5

• Multi-machine support – if you run Outlook on multiple machines, you can now run ClearContext on all of them at the same time!
• Multi-mail file support – you can now file to as many different Outlook mail files as you want – see point 7
• 2010 Support – v5.0 provides provisional support for the Outlook 2010 x86 beta. We’re working on 64-bit support.
• One-click filing and suggestions – redesigned filing buttons, selector box, and suggestions
• Smarter threading – v5 takes advantage of Outlook’s conversation ID where available to more accurately connect related messages
• Message Prioritization – Known and important messages are now marked with “CC OK” or “CC VIP” categories. Set ClearContext >Options >Configuration to use icons or flags for prioritization.
• Contact Prioritization – Click the Mark Important button on contact records to highlight emails from that person as important.
• Views – Outlook color categories now take the place of the old ClearContext inbox views, but we’ve provided 3 color-coded inbox views for people who prefer them.  See this forum thread for discussion and to offer suggestions on specific ways you’d like to have v5 organize and display your email.
• Options – some options in v5 can be configured to work more like v4 if that’s better suited for your personal workflow. Details here.

Coming in v5.1 and v5.2

Some v4 features are being redesigned for v5 and will be in later 5.x releases.

• FolderContext – The Project Dashboard displays all information that was in the v4 FolderContext.  This functionality will be redesigned for the 5.1 release.
• Delete upon reply – we’re planning to add this feature to v5.1.  Please add any thoughts/suggestions about how you’d like it to work in this forum thread.
• File topic – we’re planning to add this feature to v5.1.  Please add any thoughts/suggestions about how you’d like it to work in this forum thread.
• Notification Managers – Existing Notification Managers will still function, but you can’t edit or create new ones in v5.0.  This functionality is being redesigned to be more powerful and easier to use along with AutoAssign for v5.2.
• Alerts –  v5.0 does not include Alerts.  This functionality is being redesigned along with Notification Managers and AutoAssign for v5.2.
• IMAP – We are currently working on IMAP support and will post an update on progress prior to 5.1 release.  We hope to have some level of IMAP support in 5.1, but we won’t know for certain until we get deeper into testing.
• Office 2010 x64 – similar to IMAP, we hope to support this in 5.1, but we won’t know for certain until we get deeper into testing.

As we’ve written previously, v5.1 will be focused on improved project management and dashboard capabilities, with a new flexible project dashboard UI integrated even more tightly into Outlook.  And v5.2 will focus on comprehensive automated filing to process your newsletters, notifications, and other bulk email with quick setup and reporting capabilities

We’re very excited about v5 and look forward to all your feedback to help make our upcoming releases as close to perfect as possible!  Thanks!

Melissa MacBeth has published an excellent collection of articles on “the right way to use Outlook.”  If you’re interested in sharpening the pencil, review these tips and pick the ones that work best for you.

For our best practices for organizing email and managing overload, see the ClearContext Daily Workflow:

• Daily Workflow (overview | tips)
• Identify (overview | tips)
• Manage (overview | tips)
• Succeed (overview | tips)

The Succeed step of the ClearContext Daily Workflow is the ultimate goal of the process.  You've identified your priorities for the day and have managed your Inbox.  Now, throughout the day, succeed by focusing on your work rather than your email: 

Turn off new mail notifications via Do Not Disturb so that you can work on your tasks without interruption. 

Open the ClearContext Dashboard and select a project to work on via the Topic drop down.  Work on your most important tasks for the project. 

To stay on top of email throughout the day, sort your Inbox by priority (ClearContext > Inbox Views) and review only your highest priority messages (in red and blue) as needed. 

Use the MessageContext to see emails, appointments and other related tasks to get the full context for the item you are working on.

One note on the Prioritized step above – if you look at a message during this phase, make sure that you act on any message you open just as you would in the manage phase.  You should strive to only touch an Inbox message once. 

By completing the Identify and Manage steps previously, you are free to focus on the work that is most important to you while staying in control of your email.

Once you have finished identifying the day's priorities, move on to the Manage phase of the ClearContext Daily Workflow.  Twice daily (or some other specified interval based on email response time requirements), starting with your highest priority email first, quickly act on each Inbox message or determine when you want to act on it: 

Act Immediately?

If the message doesn't have a Topic assigned to it, assign one.  IMS will link all future emails, tasks and appointments to this Topic. 

Reply to the message if you can do so in a minute or two.  IMS can automatically file the original message to a Topic folder for you. 

Delegate the email to someone else as appropriate. 

If no response is required, review the message and file it to a Topic folder. 

Act Later?

If the message doesn't have a Topic assigned to it, assign one.  IMS will link all future emails, tasks and appointments to this Topic. 

Defer messages that you aren't ready to deal with to a later date. 

Create a task from email that requires further action on your part. 

Schedule appointments from messages that require a meeting. 

No action required?

Unsubscribe from mailing lists or long email threads that you have no interest in. 

Delete messages that you don't need to keep for archiving purposes.

This phase is the bridge that moves you from sizing up your day to working on your most important projects.  Consider it blocking and tackling – quickly and efficiently move through your Inbox and put messages onto your calendar or your task list.  The end result will be a cleared Inbox and a prioritized task list, allowing you to focus on your work rather than your email. 

The first step in the ClearContext Daily Workflow is to identify the day's priorities.  Before you jump into the morning's email, take the opportunity size up your day.  Using the ClearContext Dashboard:

Review today's meetings and appointments.  Reschedule any conflicts. 

Review your Tasks and Actions list for the day.  Adjust due dates based on task and project priorities. 

Review your Alerts to see which messages demand immediate attention. 

Identify your highest priority messages so that you are prepared to manage your Inbox.

Taking this time in the morning to get your priorities in place is the key to a productive day.  Before you move on to manage your Inbox for the first time, work on one or two of your most important tasks.

The ClearContext Daily Workflow is a three step process for managing Outlook that will save an hour or more per day.  We developed these best practices in conjunction with productivity experts and our very passionate customer base to help overloaded individuals empty their inbox and get on top of their workday:

First thing in the morning, identify the day's priorities:

1. Review your calendar 
2. Review your daily task list 
3. Review your alerts

Twice daily, manage your Inbox:

Quickly review each message and determine when you need to act on it:

1. Act immediately?  Reply, Delegate, or Review and File 
2. Act later?  Defer, Create a Task or Appointments 
3. No action required?  Unsubscribe or Delete

Throughout the day, succeed by focusing on what's important:

1. Work on your tasks by project 
2. Review high priority messages only 
3. View all related information on To Do's

Over the next few days, we will review each step in more detail.

For our US customers who are taking the long weekend, enjoy the break!  When you get back, use ClearContext to organize your Outlook:

1. Use AutoAssign to quickly file newsletters and other informational messages.
2. Prioritize your inbox and delete or file unwanted\low priority messages.
3. Manage your inbox, spending a minute or two on each conversation.  Delete, Reply, File, Defer, Unsubscribe or create a Task or Appointment and quickly move on.

For more detailed inbox triage tips, see Vacation Email Triage.

To avoid this, create an Outlook rule to delay delivery of email by a minute or two.  A real lifesaver!