If I took this approach with my clients, they'd award me with a zero inbox count for perpeturity.
Whether that's by design or something you wrongly believe to be true, congratulations, you have allowed your e-mail to enslave you.
PragDave: Followup on the EMail Experiment
11–20 of 28 posts
Re: PragDave: Followup on the EMail Experiment
#12Wouldn't it be more sensible to make a white list of people whose email you will read - relatives, important work people, etc.? That would minimize how much you piss off people you care about and probably still reduce your email volume by 90%.
That group of people is also likely to be the most sympathetic to you actually relaxing properly on your vacation.
But they're not likely to stay that way if you take advantage of their goodwill by permanently ignoring their correspondence instead of deferring it until you return.
Re: PragDave: Followup on the EMail Experiment
#13This is one of those things that's a novel idea when one person does it (particularly when that person still has a support staff available to field emails), but would be incredibly obnoxious if it were a common practice.
Re: PragDave: Followup on the EMail Experiment
#14If I took this approach with my clients, they'd award me with a zero inbox count for perpeturity.
Assuming you have more than five clients, I just don't buy this. Maybe some would but not 100%.
Also your inbox count wouldn't be zero unless you have a very unique inbox.
Re: PragDave: Followup on the EMail Experiment
#15If I took this approach with my clients, they'd award me with a zero inbox count for perpeturity.
Whether that's by design or something you wrongly believe to be true, congratulations, you have allowed your e-mail to enslave you.
I think you're missing a key distinction. My clients, wouldn't begrudge me a vacation. They would however, be quite offended if my autos-responder told them their message has been deleted. Quite frankly, it comes off as rude. You wouldn't forgive 'BigCorp' for replying to you this way, why should a small business be any different?
Re: PragDave: Followup on the EMail Experiment
#16If I took this approach with my clients, they'd award me with a zero inbox count for perpeturity.
Assuming you have more than five clients, I just don't buy this. Maybe some would but not 100%. Also your inbox count wouldn't be zero unless you have a very unique inbox.
Yes, the 'Zero' is a bit hyperbolic. At a bare minimum I'd of course still have Russian-Brides and Nigerian Prince's to keep me company...
Re: PragDave: Followup on the EMail Experiment
#17Personally, I'm a bit freaked out about the negative reaction some people have to this. Everyone should be allowed some time off and that includes email. If you aren't ignoring work, then it isn't a real vacation.
That said, I would encourage a slightly different tone with an autoresponse email. Saying you will not even attempt to read the email is over the line in my book. Yes, skimming 5,000 emails will take time, but it isn't that difficult. Say something like:
* I'm going on vacation and will not see this email until I return on
* I will make an effort to respond, but due to the volume of email I receive, it may take some time.
* Please resend your email with '[urgent]' after if you would like me to respond faster.
What's so bad about that?
Re: PragDave: Followup on the EMail Experiment
#18Interesting to see such a radical approach; it is surprising how much you can improve the S/N by simply taking a more aggressive stand on triage and accessibility.
By focusing my online presence on one IM and one email address (dropping in the process legacy emails and inadequate IMs; MSN, Yahoo, Skype...) and enforcing some sane triage on my clients/partners to ensure that they properly address requests (personal v. professional, urgent v. low priority), my daily volume of discussions has dropped significantly.
Re: PragDave: Followup on the EMail Experiment
#19Personally, I'm a bit freaked out about the negative reaction some people have to this. Everyone should be allowed some time off and that includes email. If you aren't ignoring work, then it isn't a real vacation. That said, I would encourage a slightly different tone with an autoresponse email. Saying you will not even attempt to read the email is over the line in my book. Yes, skimming 5,000 emails will take time,…
Your more diplomatic attempt isn't setting expectations properly and therefore is more trouble. Don't make promises you can't keep.
He simply won't read your email. He hardly said don't communicate with him again. Email him when he is back on two weeks.
Perfect. I know what to expect and what to do by when.
Re: PragDave: Followup on the EMail Experiment
#20That's a great idea. Back in the 90's, hoping to cut down on my contact with work during vacation, I told people I would be "rafting in Utah." I had no idea that Utah was such a popular rafting destination--living as I did in Atlanta, it sounded just remote enough to make people think I was out of reach, even though I was in fact at home the whole time. It worked to eliminate attempts to contact me, but for the 20 years since then I have had to maintain the fiction that a) I am a white-water rafting enthusiast (I am not); and b) that I went to Utah in 1991 (I DID go there in 2003 on business, but no rafts were involved). In retrospect, just letting the phone ring or routing my email to the bit-bucket would have been a lot better.