Why I Use "Inbox Zero"

If you have worked or interacted with me, you will notice that I almost have a flash-like response rate when it comes to replying to emails (except in instances where I am sleeping, traveling, in a meeting or vacationing).

In the last few years, I have become obsessed with the concept of Inbox Zero, a structured daily process for prioritizing and dealing with your email inbox, developed by Merlin Mann. I have given this a priority since my transition from a managerial to an executive role.

When you move to an executive role, you become a super-router. People rely on your decisions. You don't want to be a slow router because the whole system gets clogged, especially if a lot of nodes are connected to you.

We live in a world where speed is critical. Everyone is moving at an ultra-high speed. Your industry. Your competitors. Your customers. Your team. Your potential partners. And Your Opportunities. You don't want to be a slowing agent. You want to be the speed catalyst.

Here are three things that have a direct impact on you and your organization if you manage your email strategy poorly:

1) Missing on opportunities: Plenty of disguised opportunities knock on your door every day. However, because we are overloaded with work, email messages, and instant messaging chats, we tend to overlook them. Even though I receive plenty of messages from people I don't know and businesses I haven't encountered before, I still take the time to respond. I allocate at least 30 minutes per day to respond to all people who send me an email.

2) Damaging your reputation: I have encountered so many executives who give themselves the permission not to respond promptly to important e-mails, or worse, claim that they haven't received an email. Who are we kidding? We live in a world where we are online 24 / 7. Yes even when are asleep, our phones are frying our brains. If people perceive you as someone who doesn't respond to their emails promptly, over time, you will become less trustworthy and credible. We are all busy and sometimes we don't have the answer right away, but it is respectful to take 10 seconds of your time to answer an email, acknowledging receipt and specifying when you will get back to them with an answer.

3) Delaying your Team: One of the most important priorities for me is to help my team become efficient and productive. I don't want to be a bottleneck because it has a snowball effect on all the company's deliverables. Even if I receive an email, a phone call, or an instant message, I demand from myself to be very responsive. However, there are instances where I am really busy. In those instances, I acknowledge receipt of the message and give the other person an indication when I can get back to them with an answer. It takes me 10 seconds to do that but has a tremendous impact as it manages the expectations of the other person. No one wants a "radio silence" person on their team. It harms team relationships and has a negative impact on the culture of the company. More importantly, it creates a false alignment between the reality and the perception of reality.

I wanted to share one of the few strategies I use to accomplish "Inbox Zero":

1) I use a 3 by 3 matrix for each of the following categories: urgency, impact, and task completion time (a variation of the Eisenhower Matrix with one added dimension). I tag each category with either "High" or "Low". Obviously, if a task has an Urgency and Impact at "High", I give it priority irrespective of the time to complete it. On the opposite side, if a task has a "Low" Urgency and Impact, then I look at the time to complete. Only those with "High" time to complete, I tend to avoid. All the rest of the tasks, I do consider and allocate priorities in a reasonable manner.

So how does that relate to my "Inbox Zero" strategy?

Well, I happen to be able to toggle between tasks seamlessly as they come. So for instance, if I am writing an article that is"High" on Urgency, Impact and Time to Complete, and I receive an email from my Team, that is "Low" on Urgency, Impact and Time to Complete, I toggle out from my current task, complete the new one and get back in without losing focus.

"But, Hadi that doesn't work for everybody".

Well, that is True. A study conducted by Gloria Mark from the University of California showed that if you get distracted from a task (someone distracts you or you stop a task to do another one), it will take you an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to return to the original task. That is a long time to get back your groove and return to the original task.

No wonder why people don't multi-task often.

For me, it is different because I conditioned myself to alternate between tasks without losing focus. I created mental triggers that allow me to completely shift my thinking from one task to another, and be able to go back to the uncompleted tasks without forgetting where I left off. This skill is critical if you want to implement an "Inbox Zero" strategy without impacting your productivity and quality of work.

2) I split my inbox into four different categories: Team Emails (all emails coming from my team members, stakeholders, shareholders or other people inside the company), Client Emails (or potential ones), Partners' Emails (all emails coming from people who are key to helping run our company), and Other (where "Inbox Zero" doesn't apply to).

As a Chief Product Officer at Aqeed, I always give priority to answering Team Emails, followed by the other categories. For someone in Sales, for example, the priority should go to Clients first and foremost.

It is very important to understand that “Inbox Zero” does not mean you complete all the tasks or requests associated with your emails, but rather it means you have replied in some sort of way to the other recipient so that they understand where their requests are on your priority list.

"Inbox Zero" is a controversial topic and there are detractors and supporters to this approach. So, it might not be for you, but it has worked pretty well for me.