> Site Tours
> Features
> Off the Web
> Dr Know
> Celebrity Surfing
Web Logs
> Terror in America
Specials
> Best of Guide 2001
> Travel Guide
> Education Guide
> Email@30
TIPS to search 1
billion Web pages fast!
|
|
![[Taming the Inbox]](09lead.jpg)
Nidhi Taparia Rathi
For a growing number of people, keeping up with email is akin to fighting a losing battle.
Email -- the Internet's killer application -- is killing our ability to get away and have a life. And it's going to get worse. Jupiter Communications predicts the number of commercial email the average US consumer receives each year will skyrocket from 40 in 1999 to 1,600 by 2005. That's apart from personal and non-marketing email, which will jump from 1,750 to 4,000.
Heavy email users everywhere are becoming terrified about taking a few days off, and returning to hundreds of unread messages.
Still, managing email remains a largely personal responsibility - and everyone has his or her own tricks. Here's how some professionals are coping with their blizzards.
Atul Chitnis,
40, Director and CTO, Excore Consulting, Bangalore
New messages per day: 150-200
Survival Tactics: As the busy head of a small technology company, Chitnis spends about four-five hours on his email everyday. His inbox is sacrosanct and he says, "Email is a part of work. Even internally within the office, we work and discuss via email."
Chitnis uses technology to the max to manage his email overload. "I have extremely heavy filters: We use Linux exclusively for work, so filtering is easy. String filters at servers kill off the obvious spam, and filters at mailbox level where stuff is sorted, help further. Besides, I delete all attachments that I do not specifically request."
Of his email habits, he says, "Stuff that hits my mailbox requires my attention. Every message gets its moment of undivided attention. If it is something that I need to act on immediately, I don't do anything else until that is done. Some messages are set aside for later, others are bounced off to other members of my staff, and a few solicitations and spam get ignored."
Chitnis usually reads messages in reverse order - the oldest one first, so that it won't be "unfair to those who have written earlier." And while many crib about the informality email brings in, Chitnis loves using smileys and reading notes tinged with humour. "In fact, a stiff, formal note tends to put me off."
He's used to "living with his email box", and even spends a few hours at home attending to it. "I archive all my email because my inbox is my primary working space. As a rule, I do not delete anything, unless it's of no use to me… Tidyness of a mailbox has a number of interpretations, and 'empty' is not one of them! In fact, I have email archives going back to the late '80s."
Faisal Farooqui
26, CEO, Mouthshut.com, Inc, Mumbai
New messages per day: 60-100 (In personal and professional email boxes)
Survival Tactics: Farooqui has a self-imposed deadline to reply to email. "I respond to any email within 24 hours. If an email requires more time, I send a one-liner saying I will get back within two or three days depending on the situation. I try and respond to most of the emails I receive in my inbox, and unsubscribe to commercial email. I believe that the CEO's style often becomes the culture in a company… so it usually means most of my employees also reply to email at any Mouthshut account within 24 hours."
A student of the State University of New York, Farooqui points out, "Most senior management and CEOs of corporations today were exposed to email while in college in the '80s and '90s. In fact, handling complex situations over email during college days prepared me to effectively manage it now."
While Farooqui does not have any defined rules to deal with his inbox, he gives preference to email that are related to 'work-in-progress'. "If we are negotiating with a company and we've already exchanged a few mails, I'd respond to their queries immediately. Also, email from members of Mouthshut take priority over those from somebody pitching his company's product. Above all, email from family members require immediate attention!"
To deal with the clutter of a large number of newsletters that Farooqui subscribes to in his line of work, he usually collects them in his Rediffmail and Hotmail accounts. "I also forward such newsletters to my staff to keep them updated. It makes me more accessible, because I remember sorting out issues between two colleagues via email within 30 minutes."
While he is on a vacation, Farooqui usually has his secretary check his email. "If my secretary sends email on my behalf, she does so from her account and marks copies to me."
Debashish Chattopadhyay
45, CEO, Horizons Porter Novelli
New messages every day: 50-100
Survival Tactics: Though the volume of email Chattopadhyay receives has grown dramatically in the last few years, as he moved from Standard Chartered to Grindlays to Mudra, the way he deals with it is still the same: His official ID is off limits for personal correspondence and he only checks personal email during lunchtime.
Chattopadhyay keeps his inbox clean with a simple philosophy. "I spend an hour every morning and evening responding to email. Every mail triggers a response, usually with crisp and to-the-point answers. If required, I even chat with the person or my colleagues in office rather than emailing them."
His coping tactics are clear: Email is answered in the order it scrolls on the screen, and is quickly segregated into folders. "I use my email client to the max - I have a lot of folders and sub-folders. I delete mails that merely thank me, etc. Off late, I receive so many job requests through mail, that it's usually the first thing to be cleared and forwarded to my HR manager. I don't subscribe to newsletters because they only crowd my inbox - I prefer to search and surf the Web for the latest on any subject."
Chattopadhyay admits to feeling guilty if he doesn't respond to all his messages. "If I don't reply within a day, it's like an innate signal to my client that his email is not important. So for me replying to my email daily is a necessity. In fact, I never delete an email without reading it, and save many for future reference."
Email is also a very handy tool in sticky situations, says the CEO. "It's easy to say no via a simple email. Also, since they are short and crisp, they provide a strong clarity."
Email has changed life for Chattopadhyay. "Work gets done in half the time. And I couldn't be happier living with an email box that I try and tidy everyday. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I continue checking mail at home."
|