I just keep my email in Gmail and I have my other accounts set to forward to my Gmail address. In addition, I've setup Gmail to reply or send new email as one of my other accounts. Then I setup filters to automagically label my external email with the name of the external account.
On my Dash I have Gmail IMAP setup, but I only have it sync once per day (why doesn't MS give us specific options on the send/receive scheduling????? It was really annoying when I had my phone set to check email every 4 hours and it would notify me in the middle of the night of new email).
I check my personal email whenever I feel like it and "star" things that I need to reply to later.
For RSS, I use Google Reader. I really like the interface (I haven't really used any other RSS readers though) and it's easy to setup and organize feeds.
So using Google, I can log into any PC with internet and have access to all my latest email and RSS feeds.
I have all my email accounts set up in Gmail. I use the Firefox Browser add-0n Gmail Notifier which sits in the windows tray and notifies me when an email comes in with a tone and transparent window with sender and subject line.
I normally use Gmail in Firefox to send and receive email but when I need to send an email with multiple recipients I use Outlook 2007. I also have Outlook 2007 setup with Gmail IMAP with all my accounts so Outlook stays sync'ed with Gmail which is setup with all my accounts. I have my iPhone (oh no the i word) set up as Gmail IMAP with all my accounts also. I only delete email from within Gmail webmail.
I use Microsoft Exchange on my work PC. I use the same calendar for both business and personal. I keep exchange calendar, notebook calendar, Google calendar, and iphone calendar all sync'ed using Plaxo. Any change made any any of the calendars is sync'ed automatically except the iphone which will sync when docked.
I like having e-mail that constantly updates because, when I choose to read it, it's current.
I agree, Russ. To me, that's at the heart of a common sentiment in this thread: using e-mail on my own terms.
To me, having push e-mail doesn't make me a slave to e-mail or force me to work longer days, as some people may feel. To the contrary, having an inbox I know is always up to date is what guarantees that can I check my messages when it's convenient to ME and that my worktime is flexible.
To be sure, I've worked in cultures in which it's almost "cool" to act and feel utterly overwhelmed by e-mail. However, it's been my Tilt and pushed e-mail that have made me feel more in control of my inbox than ever before.
I used to have a WM device with my personal email being pushed. I would check it constantly, even at work. Now I have a blackberry and only get my work email on it (work only allows blackberries) - I stopped having my personal email to go to it. I am more productive at work, and can still check my personal email if I need to via OWA (but never keep it open).
On the subject of getting work email while not there, since I leave earlier from work than any of my coworkers, there are emails that come out that it is in my best interest to be able to respond to that day, rather than wait till the next day (but not necessarily immediately). And without having to pull out my work laptop and vpn in to check.
If something is so important that a quick response is needed then this should be followed up with a phonecall, stopping by at my desk, or at least a page.
Wow, some great responses are flowing in on this one. I was away from my desk most of the day (ironically fixing an email server, one that TonyR didn't even know was down since his personal mail is on it...), and just now have had a chance to read replies!
One theme that ran through the comments was using email on one's own terms. This is actually something that scares me - because even though I use email on my own terms and think I'm happy with my current state, am I really happy reaching for my phone at 5 AM on the way back from the bathroom to see if any new emails came in? I don't know, and not knowing if I'm happy or really miserable doing this is kinda scary. Of course perhaps I'm looking too deep, I am a psychologist* after all...
* research, not clinical!
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Email is complex for me. I use The Bat! and not Outlook. I have nearly ten different email addresses all filtering in through one account, and they're sorted in multiple folders.
I get a lot of email. I like to keep it separate. I have no sounds to alert me to it. Because I don't use Outlook, I've never had a virus on any computer in 15 years of Windows.
The rule I've established: if you want something immediately, text me. Otherwise, I get to it when I get to it.
My phone is set up the same way with Flexmail 2007. Multiple accounts, multiple return addresses and signatures. I only check it occasionally, and when I leave the mail on, it only checks mail when I want it to.
I went through that phase of always being connected through email. I stopped getting work done. Now I check it when I just need to change pace, and that can take hours.
After you've gotten email forever, the novelty wears off. You stop being a slave to it or you need to go through a 12 step program to ever be productive again once enough people know where to find you.
Push email? I'd only allow that if in my life if my employer required it, and they'd better not require any other kind of work to get done other than reading and answering email.
I have my domain at gmail (love google apps for your domain) I check that via imap every 5 minutes. I use phone alarm to shut off email alerts at night (10 pm to 7am) but pocket outlook still checks every 5 minutes. Wish I could change the schedule. I've thought of writing a gmail notifier that I can have a custom schedule for and then just use gmail in PIE. Shame that gmail on PIE isn't the best interface.
I wish I could get push email from my employer, but they have a painful policy on that. I've had it in the past and really liked it, particularly they way you have more flexibility on scheduling.
I'm not out of the office as much as I used to be so it's not too big a drama. Except that I'm currently working on distributed project with a 12 hour time difference between teams, and a regular 7:30 am conference call. Doing email triage on my phone would be great then I could know a little in advance of issues and also decide if I need to VPN into my work email before the call.
But it wasn't that simple. Some afternoons that I tried this, I did miss pretty important and urgent E-mails, which prompted people to call me, which was more of a distraction than E-mail had been in the first place. Other times I'd spend an afternoon working on a project that was delayed - a delay I didn't hear about until after the work was done because the organizers had E-mailed me about the delay. Still other times I'd miss personal E-mails which I would have liked to reply to quickly. It seemed that turning off notifications to E-mail wasn't a global godsend as much as a "works 50% of the time" measure.
I have written a similar article a couple of years ago. I see it as inbox-slavery: people enslave us, using our inbox as chains, to do what they want. What you see, also when you do some background reading, that some people consider e-mail as a direct and synchronous medium, while both technicaly and socially it is a (sometimes heavily) delayed and asynchronous medium. So while the sender assumes that you will read your e-mail in an instant, the reciever might not see it, might not share its priority in execution or might not agree with it totally. People dump anything in the e-mail anyway, assuming that it will end up on the other side anyway and it will be perfectly understood. To me this equals antisocial behaviour: people consider other people to be their slaves and use an inpersonal medium as a go-between. the sender even gets offended if the message wasn't picked up properly.
Another side effect is that people will really dump anything in an e-mail: if people are too afraid to look the person in the eyes, they will dump it in my e-mail. It is a fire-and-forget strategy with the least resistance: people got rid of the problem, but did not have to deal with the psychological issues that the recieving end has with it. This happened to me personally when my professor decided to terminate his involvement in my PHd research which I was conducting for 5 years: he simply popped an e-mail saying sorry. No response since.
Most cases you end up with this annoying feeling it is NOT YOUR FAULT. Do not feel guilty (you were the psychologist weren't you? ). The carelessness of the sender isn't your problem. He/she should have called and made sure that you were informed and understood the message as well as its priority. The sender did not take care of this kind of "meta-information" surrounding the message, so the consequences are his. Do you feel angry: tell them!
Consider the following scenario: would you feel OK if somebody sent an e-mail saying "the building is on fire and if you will not leave now you die". Wouldn't you blame the sender for making more noise about it, actively alerting people in his environment, like triggering a fire alarm? Wouldn't you blame the guy for the deaths of people that were in meetings? Why don't you expect at least a phone call in some cases from a project manager when a project gets cancelled?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon Westfall
Now I could set up elaborate filters to let me know when certain E-mails come in while ignoring others, however that's pretty time consuming given the fact that the vast majority of my contacts have no idea that you can set E-mails to higher or lower importance, and the fact that I work with E-mail from a variety of sources (e.g. academics, students, computer technicians, geeks, journalists, software vendors, friends, etc...). Thus far a perfect solution has eluded me.
My boss has a rather good solution. He picks up his e-mail in intervals of 4 hours. At 8:00, 12:00, 16:00 and 20:00. he told everybody that he does that, he even reserved time for it in his calendar. He blames people to use the wrong communication media if they tell him they needed prompt action and didn't get it. If you want action from him, make sure he gets it before the triage begins or you have to wait another slot. And you better make sure you make pretty clear what you want, otherwise you get a Ï don't understand"back. By doing so, you see more directed communication going to him: people make sure he gets clearly written things on time if they need action from him. They start making calls when they need real commitment. That is what communication is about: biderectional exchange of (meta-)information with consideration for the reciever.
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One theme that ran through the comments was using email on one's own terms. This is actually something that scares me - because even though I use email on my own terms and think I'm happy with my current state, am I really happy reaching for my phone at 5 AM on the way back from the bathroom to see if any new emails came in? I don't know, and not knowing if I'm happy or really miserable doing this is kinda scary. Of course perhaps I'm looking too deep, I am a psychologist* after all...
Well,
The scary thing is (besides me trying to stop myself visualising you checking your e-mail naked) is that many people do this. According to research from AOL people check their e-mail:
In bed in their pyjamas (23%)
In class (12%)
In a business meeting (8%)
At a Wi-Fi hotspot, like Starbuck's or McDonald's (6%)
set up as Gmail IMAP with all my accounts also. I only delete email from within Gmail webmail.
), and just now have had a chance to read replies!
) I check that via imap every 5 minutes. I use phone alarm to shut off email alerts at night (10 pm to 7am) but pocket outlook still checks every 5 minutes. Wish I could change the schedule. I've thought of writing a gmail notifier that I can have a custom schedule for and then just use gmail in PIE. Shame that gmail on PIE isn't the best interface.
). The carelessness of the sender isn't your problem. He/she should have called and made sure that you were informed and understood the message as well as its priority. The sender did not take care of this kind of "meta-information" surrounding the message, so the consequences are his. Do you feel angry: tell them!
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