Email Reduction

As one of my least preferred methods of communication, I am methodically working to reduce my use of email, both necessary and optional in order to improve my overall CommunicationProtocols. For more details on problems with email see EmailEfail.

Desired outcome: as close to zero reliance on checking email on a local client on a specific machine, such as Microsoft Entourage on my iBook, as possible.

Goals

More specifically.

  1. Keep zero email in a local email client.

Techniques

Deprioritize

This may be the most important technique. By lowering email in your list of preferred CommunicationProtocols, you will indirectly reduce the amount of email you get. You must be disciplined about this deprioritization, which means don't check email unless you have nothing else higher priority (per your GTD ToDoInbox / NextActions / ProjectsList or other task organization system) to do or check. Since such priority calculus is often challenging (may require a high cognitive load), consider starting with easier/simpler steps such as:

Reflexive deletion

Train yourself to reflexively delete the following types of emails, don't worry, don't sympathize etc. because there are better ways of getting this info out there, and the people sending this email already know better.

  1. BCC'd solicitation for a walk for cancer / (insert cause here) thingie
    1. plz just blog and twitter it instead.

List reduction

Mailing lists tend to be a lot of the email that a lot of people get. Several techniques can be used to reduce usage and dependence on mailing lists. Note, for all but the "unsubscribe" case, be sure to create a separate email alias for each list at your personal domain so that you can redirect where a list goes without having to deal with the specific site/group specific list management user interface. If you don't have your own domain name, and web site, get one. You want to own and control your own identity. Your domain starts with your domain name. Then see which one of these applies to each list you're on.

  1. Unnecessary. The "I don't really need to be keeping up with information on this topic" case. If you think about it, you probably joined most lists that you are on because someone suggested it to you and you thought you would check it out but then forgot to unsubscribe. Consider this first technique a reminder.
    1. Solution: unsubscribe. and don't look back.
  2. Site Notifications. Similar to unnecessary, but regular site updates may sometimes "feel" necessary. They really aren't. If you feel the need to keep up with a site's updates, subscribe to their feed. Here is an example (are a few examples) that is (are) both unnecessary, and has (have) specific reasons to unsubscribe.
    1. PayPal specifically: "What's new from PayPal" emails. PayPal is one of the most often email phished sites. Thus by turning off all PayPal email notifications, you can confidently delete/filter all emails that appear to come from PayPal. This probably also applies to every other bank/creditcard company. Instructions for how to unsubscribe, from PayPal (with additions) :
      1. Log in to your PayPal account (always type "PayPal.com" yourself into your browser, do not just click a link to go there, and verify that it redirects to an "https" URL).
      2. (skip any annoying interstitial offers, look for the small "Go to my account" button and click it.)
      3. Click the Profile sub-tab, then click the Notifications link under Account Information.
      4. Uncheck the notifications you don’t want to receive (i.e. ALL "General Notifications", and "Information Sharing").
      5. (under the heading "Notification Format for Emails", choose (*) Plain Text, which will help you automate deletion of any HTML email that claims to come from PayPal.)
      6. (click the (Save) button at the bottom of the page.)
  3. Ephemeral. The "I can process messages from this list in less than a minute each and can always delete them after processing" case. As long as the volume is "manageable" (i.e. no more than about one message a week), slot these into a "neutral priority" handling queue, and then process them in bulk once a week.
    1. Solution: filter to level0. process it once a week. no problem.
  4. Archive-worthy. The "I don't really need to read each message but would like to be able to search them once in a while" case. Create a new http://gmail.com/ account like "yournamelistarchive at gmail" or something similar if you don't already have one. Redirect the custom alias you created for this list to that listarchive gmail account. Create a filter accordingly in the gmail account that labels and auto-archives emails from the list accordingly. Anytime you want to search (or just see what is recent) in one (or all) of those lists, you can log into that gmail account and use their kickass fast, thorough, and relevant search capabilities. Now only if web search engines were as good at searching web based email archives like the microformats-discuss archives.
    1. Solution: redirect to listarchives gmail. go login to that gmail and search it when you feel the need to reference it.
  5. Ephemeral and Archive-worthy. The "I can process this list in seconds and delete, but I also want to keep around for future reference" case. Apply both solutions.
    1. Solution: filter to level0 and redirect a copy to listarchives gmail.

By type of email

With enough rules for handling different types of emails, you can both/either:

  • handle them quickly
  • document it on a personal email policy page that you can refer people to

Filters for previously unknown senders

Some thoughts on filtering previously unknown senders (incomplete). Create groups (and perhaps subgroups) by type of unknown/unfamiliar senders, and then put each group in a priority handling level proportional to utility (expected return) and inverse to cost (time to handle emails from them).

  • _income (scholarship, advising, speaking, consulting) -> level1
  • _recruiters (perhaps subgroups e.g. _execrecruiters) -> level0 - until I have updated my resume, indicated explicit non-interest in fulltime positions, and written email templates to quickly reply to recruiter inquiries, then reconsider raising to level1
  • _press -> level0 - until I have a "press" page indicating press communication protocols, and email templates to quickly reply to press inquiries, then reconsider raising to level1

Templates

Sometimes it helps to have a few templates to copy/paste to handle common types of emails either over the short or long term.

See EmailTemplates for some that I've written as needed.

Signatures

Use email signatures to actively discourage further use of email, in dereference to other communication methods. Here is a sample template that I'm using to both respectfully acknowledge the imposition of my email, and make it clear that I'm not looking for an explicit email response.

--
As I admit I am overwhelmed with email, and actively working to reduce[1] my use of email in preference to other forms of communication[2], I very much appreciate and respect your taking the time to read and process this email.
I've written this email so that there should be no need to reply unless I've made an error in the contents, in which case, corrections are encouraged.
[1] http://tantek.pbwiki.com/EmailReduction
[2] http://tantek.pbwiki.com/CommunicationProtocols

Limitations

Business transactions appear to be an area where email is still a requirement.

As Jeffrey Zeldman noted:

those of us who interact with the business world can’t abandon e-mail. A potential client of Happy Cog is not going to Twitter about it, nor would I want to negotiate a fee on a public platform.

For now, I agree and tend to use instant messaging (IM) for clients / speaking / other business transactions discussions, with email for "checkpoints" of agreed upon sets of points (something you can reforward to them later etc.) that I typically then process into a private wiki for my own tracking.

Opportunities

(This probably merits moving to a separate page at some point)

I think Jeffrey's remark also points out an excellent business opportunity for someone who can solve the problem of doing business with clients with a nice, easy to use website, easier (less noisy/annoying) than email.

People used to buy products from companies by email (speaking from personal experience of a 1996 startup), and that was replaced a while ago by web forms (same experience), e.g. Amazon for most people.

Ebay went further and enabled user to user (for some reason I dislike the B2C, B2B, C2C terms) transactions for "stuff".

I think there is a natural evolution occuring here, and that the scenarios you outline of "client discussions", and "negotiate a fee" are merely further along the spectrum.

If the ecommerce (yes I think there is still a place for that term) successes of Amazon and Ebay are any evidence, there are likely additional opportunities for innovative startups that simplify other types of semi-structured transactions that were (have been) assumed to be unsimplifyable.

For example (just thinking out loud) perhaps there is an opportunity for a site for speakers to pitch sessions they can give, and months/dates they are available, and conference organizers to bid on them or otherwise make them offers. Such a service might even make it easier for conferences to find a more diverse set of speakers, a long tail of speakers, if you will, just as Amazon and Ebay have made it easier to find a more diverse set of "stuff".

Bottom line: minimize use of email, and consider each seemingly required use of email as an opportunity for an entrepreneur to create a web startup.

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