I am already a slave to my Gmail, so I really don't see how putting even more pressure on my back would do me any good. What I really like to see are tools that actually help me get to the bottom of my inbox, Boomerang being a great example (email "snooze", very useful for cooling some threads down - http://www.boomeranggmail.com)
The Gmail Zero project: commitment device for Inbox Zero
21–30 of 43 posts
Re: The Gmail Zero project: commitment device for Inbox Zero
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
you are a piler: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_live/b/windowslive/archiv...
Awesome! I knew these descriptions exist. I heard through the rumor mill that google had identified 12 distinct types of emailers too. I am a piler. I agree with responding to email appropriately, but it is definitely just going to get left in my inbox.
The problem with leaving things in my inbox is that if I don't deal with it immediately, it quickly disappears in the stream of incoming stuff. So in theory I could "just develop the discipline" to deal with important / worthy items at the time of reading, but expecting myself to manufacture that discipline out of thin air actually stresses me out way more than a commitment device.
Re: The Gmail Zero project: commitment device for Inbox Zero
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
I actually don't know anyone that uses the archive function. My "inbox zero" equivalent is to have no unread e-mails as I often leave e-mails that I need to respond to or handle as unread.
Gmail's Archive function is (or at least was, 8 years ago) its best feature! If you're not using it, you're Doing It Wrong. If you think of your inbox as a to-do list (where the most basic task is "read this"), then the most common pattern ITDBG (In The Days Before Gmail) for managing your to-do was using read/unread as your done/todo flags. This was annoying; when reading an email that can't be actioned right away y…
Disagree. And if you're telling someone they're doing something wrong, you may be overemphasizing your point.
I use priority inbox to filter out the messages that I ignore 99% of the time. For items I need to act on later, I use stars. With P.I., I can hide or show my Priority emails, my starred emails, and everything else. So things that are new can get my attention, or I can focus on finishing something up, etc.
I don't disagree that your system works effectively for you, but I think it's a silly statement to tell someone else they're doing it wrong (especially silly to capitalize the phrase Doing It Wrong.)
Re: The Gmail Zero project: commitment device for Inbox Zero
#24Does this work with Priority Inbox? I don't even had a 'Read' counter...
Alas, I don't think so. It also doesn't really work if you let your number of Unread messages grow without bound, since it's only looking at how many messages you've read but left sitting in your inbox. I personally don't like the priority inbox concept. I really want to have full control over what I allow to go out of sight out of mind. If I got a truly overwhelming amount of email then I guess I'd be happy to trust…
Do you know how to see the 'read' system label? It doesn't show up for me in 'manage labels'.
Re: The Gmail Zero project: commitment device for Inbox Zero
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
I actually don't know anyone that uses the archive function. My "inbox zero" equivalent is to have no unread e-mails as I often leave e-mails that I need to respond to or handle as unread.
I do. 5 overall states for email: unread read+star (urgent/reminder) read (todo/reference for current tasks/projects) archived (done + keep for reference) deleted (done + not needed for reference, or ignored altogether) - so "your amazon order shipped" etc. I don't keep the inbox empty, but there are only emails regarding ACTIVE tasks/conversations in it, its natural state is 0 unread emails, as if you don't do that,…
Sounds almost exactly me. I leave important emails in my inbox that I'm working with (and one or two from my parents). I have a max of about 10 at any time. Zero unread.
I would love to see these states represented:
- Unseen (sent but I haven't opened my inbox or cleared the notification)
- Unread (seen but not opened)
- Read
- Read & replied
Then I can delete and archive when I want.
Re: The Gmail Zero project: commitment device for Inbox Zero
#26I consistently have more than 3,000 unread mails but I like having everything in one mailbox without archiving it. The reason for that is context. If I'm looking for mail C I know it's behind mail B. It's my way of keeping order in the chaos. Not so much with inbox zero, you lose all context and you will have to rely on your memory to retrieve your mail.
Re: The Gmail Zero project: commitment device for Inbox Zero
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Alas, I don't think so. It also doesn't really work if you let your number of Unread messages grow without bound, since it's only looking at how many messages you've read but left sitting in your inbox. I personally don't like the priority inbox concept. I really want to have full control over what I allow to go out of sight out of mind. If I got a truly overwhelming amount of email then I guess I'd be happy to trust…
Do you know how to see the 'read' system label? It doesn't show up for me in 'manage labels'.
Gmail is a bit inconsistent about that by default: it shows you the number of individual unread messages, and then the total number of threads, so you can't use subtraction to get an accurate read count. GmailZero gives the number of fully read threads (unless you have a really huge inbox, in which case it counts the bare read msgs until you get down) -- so if a thread has an unread msg it goes back to an unread thread and doesn't count against you.
Re: The Gmail Zero project: commitment device for Inbox Zero
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Awesome! I knew these descriptions exist. I heard through the rumor mill that google had identified 12 distinct types of emailers too. I am a piler. I agree with responding to email appropriately, but it is definitely just going to get left in my inbox.
The problem with leaving things in my inbox is that if I don't deal with it immediately, it quickly disappears in the stream of incoming stuff. So in theory I could "just develop the discipline" to deal with important / worthy items at the time of reading, but expecting myself to manufacture that discipline out of thin air actually stresses me out way more than a commitment device.
I was all excited to see this response from someone who totally gets where we're coming from. Then I noticed that my cofounder/spouse wrote it. :)
But, yes, here's more on that out of sight out of mind problem: http://messymatters.com/email
Re: The Gmail Zero project: commitment device for Inbox Zero
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Awesome! I knew these descriptions exist. I heard through the rumor mill that google had identified 12 distinct types of emailers too. I am a piler. I agree with responding to email appropriately, but it is definitely just going to get left in my inbox.
The problem with leaving things in my inbox is that if I don't deal with it immediately, it quickly disappears in the stream of incoming stuff. So in theory I could "just develop the discipline" to deal with important / worthy items at the time of reading, but expecting myself to manufacture that discipline out of thin air actually stresses me out way more than a commitment device.
I leave everything in my inbox and currently have 0 unread personal and 1 unread work emails. My system is this: if it's marked unread, I need to do something. If it's read, nothing needs to be done. I also filter emails that i'll never need to do something with, but definitely want to their own folder (or tag or whatever) and remove it from the inbox. That means my main stream of incoming email is relevant, the nice to know is off to the side and I have a clear set of emails to review. The setup also means every email I get on my phone (only check certain tags/folders) is what I need to read soon, while other email is relegated to my 3 times a day checks (first thing, around lunch, last thing). The hardest part when moving to this system is setting the expectation that email is asynchronous communication and if real time or emergency communication is necessary, use another form of contact.
Re: The Gmail Zero project: commitment device for Inbox Zero
#30I consistently have more than 3,000 unread mails but I like having everything in one mailbox without archiving it. The reason for that is context. If I'm looking for mail C I know it's behind mail B. It's my way of keeping order in the chaos. Not so much with inbox zero, you lose all context and you will have to rely on your memory to retrieve your mail.
The brilliance of Gmail threads is that it reintroduces context immediately for a thread. As a developer, you should know that multithreaded context is a bad idea... :)