#3 What do you do with...
- Thread starter roakleyca
- Start date
TesTeq;48969 said:
I certaintly have a "sent" folder...but other people in my business unit may need access to the information in those emails. And what if I need to review the email later on for potential action items to be done some time in the future? Maybe I'm over (or under) thinking something here...
TesTeq
Registered
Some ideas that may work.
BCC: all emails to roakleyca_team@gmail.com and give all your team members access to this account.
The sort and search functionality of e-mail software is better and better each day so I do not think that it will be dificult to find and review any e-mail later. You can also use a flag to mark "done forever" e-mails or move them to "archive" folder.
roakleyca;48970 said:
BCC: all emails to roakleyca_team@gmail.com and give all your team members access to this account.
roakleyca;48970 said:
The sort and search functionality of e-mail software is better and better each day so I do not think that it will be dificult to find and review any e-mail later. You can also use a flag to mark "done forever" e-mails or move them to "archive" folder.
roakleyca;48970 said:
Maybe I'm missing something in this line of questioning, but here's my two cents...
My "sent" folder retains everything I've sent for some period of time (3 months, I think). Usually, if I need to hunt down something I sent to someone, it is within that 3 month window.
If I know ahead of time that a particular email has the potential to be important more than 3 months from now (legal matters, etc), I either cc: myself or use the "Send and File" capability of my email client - this way I can be sure that it gets archived.
If there are others in my business unit who may need the info in the mail I'm sending, I either bcc: them, or forward it separately from my "sent" folder.
I don't know that I've ever had to review an email that I sent for action items -- any action items on my part should have been self-evident at the time I sent the email. Also, I always put a "waiting for" item for any email which I expect a response to. My weekly review may prompt follow-up actions, and if I need to review the email itself, then it is usually available in my "sent" folder.
The short of it is that I use email primarily for communication, secondarily for reference, never for tracking to-do's.
A
adam.buckeridge
Guest
In our company we use an exchange server,
This is the system that I set up:
I use an outlook addon called Clearcontext,
It is simalar to the GTD outlook plugin but with more features.
When an email is sent or is received you tag the mail (I tag it by customer name)
Once a converstion is tagged it autotags the rest of the conversations.
Once I have decided my next action there is a one click that will then file the message into a folder in outlook.
One a regular basis I move the mails from these folders into an Exchange shared folder. This allows all other staff to access the emails , and exchange shared folders can be searched with the microsoft live search.
The other benefit is that when you view an email, or are composing an email you can one click assign a task / delegate or create a waiting for.
hope that helps.
Adam
This is the system that I set up:
I use an outlook addon called Clearcontext,
It is simalar to the GTD outlook plugin but with more features.
When an email is sent or is received you tag the mail (I tag it by customer name)
Once a converstion is tagged it autotags the rest of the conversations.
Once I have decided my next action there is a one click that will then file the message into a folder in outlook.
One a regular basis I move the mails from these folders into an Exchange shared folder. This allows all other staff to access the emails , and exchange shared folders can be searched with the microsoft live search.
The other benefit is that when you view an email, or are composing an email you can one click assign a task / delegate or create a waiting for.
hope that helps.
Adam
If there is a next action (i.e., a follow-up) to "sent" email, I would collect it just like anything else by jotting down a note for later processing.
If I need to keep the email for reference, I print it and put it in my paper system
That said, all my sent emails are preserved perpetually in my email system, so I know I'll be able to search for them later if necessary.
I have more trouble with signed forms I have to send through snail mail and need a backup copy of (for legal purposes), since I don't have ready access to a copier or scanner.
If I need to keep the email for reference, I print it and put it in my paper system
That said, all my sent emails are preserved perpetually in my email system, so I know I'll be able to search for them later if necessary.
I have more trouble with signed forms I have to send through snail mail and need a backup copy of (for legal purposes), since I don't have ready access to a copier or scanner.
Flag waiting for e-mails
In my mail program (Mac OS X Mail), I have the following setup to track waiting fors for e-mail. Whenever I send an e-mail that I want to track as a 'waiting for', e.g. just waiting for a reponse, I go to my Sent folder and flag the e-mail I have just sent. I have also setup a Smart Folder (perhaps other mail programs have a similar feature?) that lists all e-mails that are in the Sent folder AND that are flagged. Whenever I receive the reply and I no longer need to track the mail, I simply unflag it.
If I myself would have a next action associated with the very e-mail I just sent, I either copy the sent e-mail to my @ACTIONS folder in my mail program if the next action is something that needs to be done on the PC, or I write an entry on one of my action lists if it is not something that requires the use of the PC.
roakleyca;48962 said:
In my mail program (Mac OS X Mail), I have the following setup to track waiting fors for e-mail. Whenever I send an e-mail that I want to track as a 'waiting for', e.g. just waiting for a reponse, I go to my Sent folder and flag the e-mail I have just sent. I have also setup a Smart Folder (perhaps other mail programs have a similar feature?) that lists all e-mails that are in the Sent folder AND that are flagged. Whenever I receive the reply and I no longer need to track the mail, I simply unflag it.
If I myself would have a next action associated with the very e-mail I just sent, I either copy the sent e-mail to my @ACTIONS folder in my mail program if the next action is something that needs to be done on the PC, or I write an entry on one of my action lists if it is not something that requires the use of the PC.