I very much like this.
Regular readers of acidlabs will know we’re fans of Getting Things Done. Eric Mack extends David’s Two Minute Rule to email - if the email will take more than two minutes to reply to, just delete it.
Now, this is obviously an idea that needs a little tweaking. Sometimes you get emails that are critical that require a response which needs to take more than two minutes to generate. That said, take a look at your Inbox. How many unread/unanswered emails are there? What percentage of them could you deal with in less than two minutes? How many of the ones that would take more than two minutes should have been broken down into smaller chunks of achievable, next action-based information? I’d venture than the answers, in order, are: A number between 10 and 100, more than 80 per cent, all of them.
Go ahead. Kill the email that will take more than two minutes to answer. If it’s really important, the sender will call or email again. When they do, advise them of your policy and get them to chunk their email down.
I’m not too sure how a client would respond to being told “I’m sorry I didn’t reply to your email as it is policy not to do so if it will take more than two minutes”. However I do like the approach, or even sending emails after a max of 2 minutes writing by closing with “I’ll send the additional info later” or just cutting it off so the recepiant might think they’ve missed some and ask you for the rest.
That way you have an instant idea of how long it will take you to get through your inbox:
TimeTilLunch = Inbox.Count*2
@Danny - like I said, it needs some tweaking and there are always going to be exceptions. I like your follow up with more info idea.
Seems to me, anyone who needs an email that takes longer than two minutes to compose has been left out of the communication loop in the first place. We use daily SCRUM posts to let everyone else know ‘where we are and what we are doing’. I can’t remember the last time I took that long to write an email about what was going on in the development process. Good words to live by.
I am a great fan of David’s GTD. Do you know of the podcasts that 43folders.com did with David. Recently, I’ve been listening to their podcast wherever I drive.
@Brajeshwar - I haven’t yet had time to listen to the 43Folders podcasts with David. On your recommendation, I may have to!