[heliod]

Originally Posted by Brad Adrian

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 quite agree with Brad.

For me it is very important to have an up-to-date mailbox with you wherever you go and whenever you need it. I use my Pocket PC for that.

I also constantly check the mailbox to see if there is something urgent, since I have found out that nowadays people expect to be immediately accessible by mail and always aware of what is happening at your mailbox.

This doesn't mean that I am going to act immediately upon the arrival of each mail. Most mail messages are of that type that I just read the title at the list and leave them unread for taking care of them at the office. But I am surely aware, on short notice, when something urgent arrives, and act on that ASAP.

One important thing: Push Mails goes into off-peak manual mode at 19:00. At the end, I also have a life to live with my family.

[heliod]

Originally Posted by Brad Adrian

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 quite agree with Brad.

For me it is very important to have an up-to-date mailbox with you wherever you go and whenever you need it. I use my Pocket PC for that.

I also constantly check the mailbox to see if there is something urgent, since I have found out that nowadays people expect to be immediately accessible by mail and always aware of what is happening at your mailbox.

This doesn't mean that I am going to act immediately upon the arrival of each mail. Most mail messages are of that type that I just read the title at the list and leave them unread for taking care of them at the office. But I am surely aware, on short notice, when something urgent arrives, and act on that ASAP.

One important thing: Push Mails goes into off-peak manual mode at 19:00. At the end, I also have a life to live with my family.

[Russ Smith]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

I find that very interesting - every person I've seen with push email always checks it when they hear the bing or feel the buzz. It's hard to have a conversation with someone who's always checking their device, so to me that makes them a slave to their email. If you can resist looking, then you're a better man than most.

Indeed. It took me a while to get my head wrapped around the idea that a ping or buzz _doesn't_ mean "drop everything." The tough work is convincing yourself (to the point of estinguishing the reflex reaction) that notification is just notification. Obviously you also have to use different signals for appointment alarms and incoming e-mail too.

I also couldn't agree more with the statements to the effect that treating e-mail as IM should be considered inappropriate. Most corporate environments have some sort of communications policy. If there isn't one, you might be forced to suggest it (and probably be roped into being part of the team to write it ). It should detail which forms of communication should be used for various types of situations (eg: Those that need immediate attention --> Instant Text or Voice Message.) as well as the consequences that occur when using the wrong medium (eg: "Urgent e-mail doesn't get answered because ____ is out of the office and you don't know because you couldn't be troubled to pick up the phone.)

This discussion fall into the broader category of "technology as servant or master;" one which I've put a fair bit of thought into over time. We can use technology to streamline our lives and use our time more efficiently (eg: DVRs that let us watch our shows at a time convenient to us) or we can let the technology force us into patterns of behavior that are neither efficient nor healthy (eg: "Having" to type a blog response because you just received an e-mail notification that someone responded to your response to their response to...). The choice is ours.

[Sven Johannsen]

Fun thread to read. I remember similar threads when WM phones started coming out and access to e-mail via the cell network started being possible. The holy grail was 'push e-mail', you know, like my Blackberry. OMG, you don't do push? You don't get it delivered instantly? How could you survive? Oh, no, setting it to retrieve mail every 15 min, 1 hour, whatever, isn't good enough. So we got it. [Be careful what you wish for?]

I've never had a burning desire for push e-mail. I get it when I have the opportunity. Even my desktop is set to retrieve once an hour. If it is that darned important, call me...that's why I have a phone, both at my desk and a mobile.

[alese]

I have my WM phone set to check the work mail (Exchange) every 2 hours during work hours and then every 4 hours, I have my personal mail (Gmail IMAP) set at 4 hours all the time, but I still have trouble not checking continously my mail - when I'm at my desk Outlook is allways open and while I tried to close it, I just can't do my work without it - the best I can do is switch to calendar or task view...

[Tim Williamson]

What program do you guys use (if any) to turn off notifications in the middle of the night?

[ctmagnus]

Originally Posted by Tim Williamson

What program do you guys use (if any) to turn off notifications in the middle of the night?

Spb Phone Suite

[Tim Williamson]

Originally Posted by ctmagnus

Spb Phone Suite

No Smartphone version... Anyone recommendations for us Smartphone (Standard) users?

[ctmagnus]

Originally Posted by Tim Williamson

No Smartphone version... Anyone recommendations for us Smartphone (Standard) users?

Whoops! I forgot you're a Smartphone guy. In that case, I suggest phoneAlarm.

[MartenDavis]

I am a real estate appraiser that gets some orders from companies who do what is called "broadcasting". They send out an appraisal request to up to 10 different appraisers and the first one that logs in and accepts gets the job. My email client (Eudora Pro) checks email every 1 minute at the fastest.

I went and bought a new phone that has email access and pay for this access service. I now get my email instantly. Problem is that the only way to get the email instantly is to use forwarding to the text area of Verizon.

Is there any way to have an email client open on your phone or Blackberry? I probably should have gotten a Balckberry rather than a touch phone (Samsung Rogue).

Anyone have expertise in this area that can advise me on the best way to be able to have instant email open all the time on my phone, blackberry and desktop?

MartenDavis