Getting Email Under Control: Waiting For

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ArcCaster

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I just tried the recommended approach of having an @WaitingFor subfolder under my Inbox. If I send mail that I want to follow up on, I simply cc myself, then put the cc into the @WaitingFor subfolder. This is good because I care about when I sent it, who I sent it to, and what it is about -- too much info to put into a list of next actions -- better to just file the email. I think I like it very much.

Anyone care to reinforce my impression or add to it? Or contradict?

Thanks,
Rob
 
Hi Rob!

That's great, I do it too using Gmail. Gmail is great for that because the label system allows me to put that same message I send in the @WaitingFor "folder", without moving or create other copies (no need for cc).

Cheers!
 
I am a big fan of having an email folder named "Waiting for responses"

I don't bother cc'ing myself, I just immediately pull it out of Sent Mail in Outlook and drag to that folder "Waiting for a response". I think it can look a little pretentious and maybe manipulative to cc yourself (just my opinion when I see those), plus this method keeps my Sent Mail scrubbed out.

Sad to say, I also had to create a folder "Waiting for a response - archived, will never answer". But there is a bright side - that folder shows at a glance that people are too busy to respond to every email, so stop contributing to the problem and pick up the phone or do some real work or something!
 
I pull email into Omnifocus notes

If I have an e-mail I have to either respond to or wait for I use hot keys to pull either the entire e-mail or the piece I need to respond to into Omnifocus directly. Then I can either add the mail to the notes about that project or make a next action.

For me having he to read or waiting for or any other similar folders in my mail system was a huge black hole. Messages would get put there never to surface again.

I wish I could make ti work for more, it would be easier but I found I couldn't. I think it's great that it's working for you!
 
Added an Outlook Rule

I love my @Waiting For e-mail folder. I also stopped cc'ing myself. Instead I created a rule for Outlook to scan each outing message for a special tag then save a copy of the e-mail in the Waiting For folder.

Details are in the Outllok White Paper.

The only thing I had to change was the White Paper reccomended *W/F* as the rule...it seemed a little too close to WTF and a couple people wanted to know what it was. I changed the rule to *sales* and put that under my signature when i want to follow-up and it works like a charm!
 
Oogiem;84057 said:
If I have an e-mail I have to either respond to or wait for I use hot keys to pull either the entire e-mail or the piece I need to respond to into Omnifocus directly. Then I can either add the mail to the notes about that project or make a next action.

For me having he to read or waiting for or any other similar folders in my mail system was a huge black hole. Messages would get put there never to surface again.
Click to expand...
Same for me. I couldn't work with a 'waiting for' folder in Outlook because I really didn't like the time it took to re-read emails and have to think about what I was waiting for or what the next action might be after that. I just c.c. emails that are waiting for a response to my Toodledo system where they land in the inbox. I process them there into the appropriate list (waiting for, next, etc) and thereby can put in the notes needed to save me having to construct it all in my mind when I next do a review.
 
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