Add email NAs to master (paper) list or keep separate?

Botany_Bill

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I'm new to GTD, using a paper system.

I thought David (or the book) said to put all Next Actions in one place (separated by context, of course). But in a recent podcast, he said to manage NAs from emails in a NA folder in Outlook. I like that because it's easy to drop emails into folders. But it seems like this has 2 problems:

1) Emails from others are rarely written in a format that gets to the point of what _I_ need to do next.
2) This means I need to look through 2 separate NA lists, which feels wrong: I may miss something because my head could be in one list and not the other for a while.

So, should I not write all NAs from email into my paper NA list? How do any of you handle this?

Thank you!!
 

mcogilvie

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It really depends on you and your work, and maybe your email client. High volume and quick email responses might mean managing email next actions within email is better. Lower volume and more thinking involved might mean an external list works better. Personally, I have no problem with a hybrid approach that combines the two, but I use flags instead of a next action email folder.
 

Murray

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If you want to keep all your action reminders in one place - a worthy goal - then I would suggest to clarify and track the actions in your paper system and file the emails under a label called "@Action support".

In this way of working, the emails are there to support you to take action but you're not relying on them to remind you what the action is.

(Or go even more minimal... file the email in reference or achive, and use search to pull it up again. This is what I do. You can copy the subject line of the email into your action reminder if you are worried about finding it.)
 

Gardener

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I thought David (or the book) said to put all Next Actions in one place (separated by context, of course). But in a recent podcast, he said to manage NAs from emails in a NA folder in Outlook. I like that because it's easy to drop emails into folders.
This doesn't work for me. Each email could represent more than one action, each action could be represented by more than one email, plus, as you say, it's more than one NA list. (Are you sure he said this? It seems odd.) So it's a lot of added clutter.

So if I have an action that needs an email as added information, I'll note that. ("Investigate widget bug. Email JSmith 8/28") And sometimes I'll drag emails that I know I'll be searching for into a "search" folder, where they hang out for a few weeks until I clean out that folder.

Now, if I had a whole bunch of emails that all were all near-identical variations of the same thing, like, say, emails of requests to perform some rote computer task that are for some reason not in an online queue, then I would put them in a folder and my NA list would have an action about keeping up with that folder.
 

Jeremy Jones

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Years ago I had folders for every account or project in my Archive (reference). Today I use only 5 folders in Outlook, and the same 5 in Gmail.

Those folders are:
  • Inbox
  • Sent Items
  • @ACTION SUPPORT
  • @WAITING FOR SUPPORT
  • Archive
I'm leaving off Deleted Items, of course.

I'm not always flawless in my execution, but when I'm on my game, both Inbox and Sent Items are empty.

Anything I need to take action on is in @ACTION SUPPORT, and anything I'm expecting action on from others is, predictably, in @WAITING FOR SUPPORT.

Anything I want to save as reference is processed via a quick step I set up years ago, which marks things read and moves them into the Archive folder. I sort Archive on sender's name, so I can search my folder by starting to type the sender's name, and find the most recent emails. If I want to find anything deeper than that, I'll do a search, for example for:

from:jjones@thatemailserver.com received:>1/1/22 pricing
...to find emails from that reference reference email address, received after January 1, 2022, containing the word "pricing" in the subject line. That's much faster for me than remembering which folder things are in, as there are so many potential contexts in my life.

Anything else goes immediately into Deleted Items, and I purge that throughout the day. The failsafe is that any time I close Outlook I have it purge those deleted items.
 

Murray

Registered
That's much faster for me than remembering which folder things are in, as there are so many potential contexts in my life.

Yeah I hardly ever use my reference folders to find a specific email.

I use the general 'archive' folder liberally, and when I do file emails under a topic reference folder its mainly so I have peace of mind that if I need to bring some kind of focus to that topic in the future I'll have a place to start.

The clearest example of this is when I get emails, usually from my boss, that are sent out to our faculty and don't require any action from me, but they help paint a picture of how our team is expected to operate. I'm aware as I file these emails under 'faculty' that I'll most likely use this folder at some stage to review my current areas of focus and potential future responsibilities.

Also Jeremy I like your system for emails... Simple, clear and uncompromising! I imagine it helps you stay effective and hold on to peace of mind.
 

schmeggahead

Registered
file the emails under a label called "@Action support".
I use an approach similar to this.

I have 2 folders for actions: @ActOn and @ActionSupport
They each have a process for them:

@ActOn is populated from my Inbox - anything I need to act upon that takes more that two minutes.

Then I process @ActOn as an Inbox, creating the entries on my paper system before moving it to @ActionSupport.

This causes an added cleanup in my Weekly Review to clear out an file any completed action support emails.

I do create reference folders but actionable items never go there until complete.

I find that if I document my process and review it regularly, I don't have to have all my NA in one place. They can be where I do them. However, if I don't easily know where they all are, that is a problem.

Hope this is helpful.
Clayton

What I've learned about the world shapes how I see it.
Lucky for me, I'm learning each day,
welcoming a changed world for me to see
and enjoy.
 

Botany_Bill

Registered
Years ago I had folders for every account or project in my Archive (reference). Today I use only 5 folders in Outlook, and the same 5 in Gmail.

Those folders are:
  • Inbox
  • Sent Items
  • @ACTION SUPPORT
  • @WAITING FOR SUPPORT
  • Archive
I'm leaving off Deleted Items, of course.

I'm not always flawless in my execution, but when I'm on my game, both Inbox and Sent Items are empty.

Anything I need to take action on is in @ACTION SUPPORT, and anything I'm expecting action on from others is, predictably, in @WAITING FOR SUPPORT.

Anything I want to save as reference is processed via a quick step I set up years ago, which marks things read and moves them into the Archive folder. I sort Archive on sender's name, so I can search my folder by starting to type the sender's name, and find the most recent emails. If I want to find anything deeper than that, I'll do a search, for example for:

from:jjones@thatemailserver.com received:>1/1/22 pricing
...to find emails from that reference reference email address, received after January 1, 2022, containing the word "pricing" in the subject line. That's much faster for me than remembering which folder things are in, as there are so many potential contexts in my life.

Anything else goes immediately into Deleted Items, and I purge that throughout the day. The failsafe is that any time I close Outlook I have it purge those deleted items.

Since you don't have Next Action folders in your email program, do you enter those somewhere else?
 
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