My Formula for Handling the Daily Email Barrage: Delegate, Defer, Decide

None of my nearly 200 columns here to date has been of the obviously popular ‘tips for better business’ variety, and with good reason. My business is public health, and my primary effort here is to make sure you hear about the studies you should, that the science is interpreted appropriately, and that an allowance is made for an application of sense. That’s my primary gig, and it’s a good one. In addition, I do occasionally indulge other inclinations- in the form poems, or philosophical essays. I think science and art help illuminate one another.

But I haven’t offered daily business or efficiency tips, leaving that to the many others here who write solely or preferentially on that very topic. But it occurs to me that we all share the business of information exchange, and in that area, I think I have something to offer.

The immediate prompt for this column was an email from somebody I don’t know expressing surprised delight that I had answered them. For the most part, despite a daily barrage of hundreds of emails, I always do. I get those gratifying replies fairly often from people who presumably had little hope of hearing back.

I have a formula for handling the daily email barrage that might work for you as well. The formula is: delegate, defer, decide.

1) Delegate: good and capable people work with and for me. I rely on them confidently. Whenever someone else has more time and/or more targeted interest or expertise to address a given email, I pass it along, letting the sender know. The key here is never to abuse this opportunity. Sometimes, I am very tempted to pass along an email just to lighten the load, but I really am the best one to deal with it. I grit my teeth, and deal with it on those occasions. When my colleagues and staff can rely on only appropriate messages reaching them, they remain committed to addressing them efficiently- and making us both look good in the process.

2) Defer: some messages simply can’t be addressed right away. They may involve a complex decision, a sequence of steps, or a document requiring detailed review. I have several dedicated folders to catalogue such missives, so I can move them out of my inbox and spare myself that intimidating clutter when I access my email. I generally send a quick ‘got it’ reply as well, to spare myself a subsequent “did you get it?” email, and spare the sender the worry that their effort went awry. I then set aside blocks of time to work on these projects, as I would any other. It’s worth noting that occasionally, a deferred message is neglected long enough to fade from memory. I tend to find that if both sender and receiver are willing to let this happen, the matter needed to die anyway, at least in the short term. Sometimes they are resurrected later when they make more sense and come with clearer marching orders.

3) Decide: this is the largest category for me. When I plow through messages, it’s always tempting to let many of them wait. But of course, while this batch is waiting, the next batch comes in. We might all long for the simpler, if less efficient, days pre-email, but this is our world now; the flow of information never stops. So fail to keep up, and your inbox will overwhelm you. I have colleagues who routinely fail to answer, because messages get lost in a huge backlog. To avoid this, I apply the discipline of prompt decisions. If the message is too vague to allow for a specific response, then that’s my reply: I need more detailed information to process this constructively. If it’s inappropriate, or I lack the bandwidth to help- I say that, and move on. Quick decisions are much like use of a muscle; they are conditioned with practice. Whenever you answer your emails-whether throughout the day, as I tend to do, or in dedicated bocks of time- you can cultivate a disciplined “read, decide, respond” approach to stay caught up. The benefits are that important messages always get a prompt response, nothing gets lost in the sauce, and you spare yourself the distraction of clutter.

The one other element in my formula is to think twice before sending an email. Emails beget emails, so every message sent means more time allocated at both ends. The fact that we can all but effortlessly shoot off a message doesn’t mean we should.

So, one last thing, before I revisit my inbox: please don’t send me emails just to test my formula! It works...up to a point.

-fin

Dr. David L. Katz

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