I am not a salesman or an executive who has to run a company (yet!) but when I see an average of 80 emails in my mailbox daily, I wonder about information clutter. So I talked to a bunch of my colleagues and found out what I am going to write here is a common phenomenon. We all suffer from the email overflow!
It begins with corporate announcements (about 10%) which I read selectively based on the subject or when someone in the cafeteria is talking about it (those I have to restore from Trash). Another 10% comes from reminders for deadlines or admin stuff which we should normally remember. This is a representation of how committed people are to their own plans. Sad but true – hence the email!
Then there is a good 40% in which I am copied as FYI. Three words for the team – “just fix it”. So far 60% of the emails are about 25% effective but consume a good portion of my morning schedule. Now the remaining 40% are the interesting ones. This is where I have to really pay attention.
5% Emails highlighted in Blue are from the boss
3% Emails highlighted in Yellow are from his boss or higher
25% Pink emails are from my clients. Yes pink because I find pink to be a soothing color. Red was the original color of choice.
As for the last 8% that’s mostly travel notifications. For my kind of job you need those – from one airport to another and another!
So are we email obsessed? Check this out
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2373233,00.asp
@saxenaas
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