Strategies For Reducing Email Clutter At Work

Email can be a productivity killer for lawyers. Being hyper-responsive to email leads to context switching and getting caught in an endless loop of reading and responding to email. By the time you get through a batch of emails, you'll already have responses pouring back into your inbox. It can be a vicious cycle where you can't get any substantive work done. On the other hand, we all know how important it is to be responsive as a lawyer. You can't simply ignore your inbox for long periods of time. That's a great way to annoy clients and your internal team. So what can lawyers do about this paradox? For law firm associates, in particular, it's important to have a strategy for email management. Step one: Develop a reputation for reliability and high-quality work If you're known as someone who is organized, reliable, and consistently delivers solid work, you'll have more leeway to respond to email on your terms. Step two: Have a system for checking your inbox Instead of getting distracted by every incoming email, go into your inbox at scheduled times (say, every 60 or 90 minutes) throughout the day. This will allow you to get substantive work done (thinking and writing) while still staying on top of your email. Step three: Develop good judgment for email responsiveness Some emails should get an immediate response: - To keep a deal moving that's scheduled to close soon - A prospective client pings you about a new opportunity - A simple one sentence reply can close an open loop But others can wait. Not every email is urgent. For these types of emails, the best approach is often to acknowledge receipt and let the other person know when they can expect a substantive response. In many instances, all people want to know is that the issue is off their plate and onto yours. Email, billable hours, meetings—they're undesirable but essential parts of the job. Being organized and having systems in place can help you avoid getting so bogged down that you can't get to any substantive work done until after 6 pm.

I managed to delegate 95% of my email inbox when running an 1,800 client accounting firm. Here are 11 tips to reinvent your team's approach to email: 1. Send less email You don't get responses to emails you never send. Email is for exception handling, not ongoing repetitive work. 2. Eliminate inbox propriety Email isn't your private space, it's the receiving bay of your business. Radical email transparency solves a host of email-related pains. Find an alternative home for internal sensitive messages. Btw if you want tips like this in your inbox each week, join 9,112 other accounting firm owners on the list here https://lnkd.in/gKY9X4M9 3. Delegate Email's no more immune to delegation than any other work. The fact 10% of messages require your touch isn't a reason to DIY 100% of it. 4. Batch the FYIs For everything that doesn't require your direct attention, have your team send you a once-daily FYI digest of everything you ought to know to keep you in the loop. 5. Delegate monitoring Don't leave email up just in case something spicy arrives. The fact a client may have an emergency they want you to bail them out of isn't a reason to let yourself to be perpetually distracted. Instead, make it somebody's job to check your inbox a few times per day for anything spicy. 6. Don't start the day with email That way your day gets away from you at 11am instead of 8am. 7. Eliminate inbox propriety Let's talk about this one a second time because it's so important: Imagine an employee saying "I'll keep an eye on my inbox while I'm away" despite employing 20 other people to do the same job. They'll follow your lead, so lead by example. Let other people help. 8. Don't work out of the inbox Getting to to inbox 0 is like running in quicksand. They keep coming in as fast as you can get them out. Instead, have an assistant move messages to a "today" folder once per day, and work out of that one. 9. Don't send immediate responses Nobody gets more than 1 email per 24 hours. This change alone will reduce email volume by 50%. 10. Designate a fast lane Occasionally a client will be in the thick of things and need quick access to you for a few days. Create a temporary fast lane, let the team know to ping you if anything from the client comes through. Make this level of availability the exception, not the rule. 11. Don't let people jump the line When you respond to that text or take that call, don't expect that person to ever get back in the email queue. Clients are like mice in a maze, they'll find the fastest way to get to your cheese until you stick to your comms strategy. Email sucks. It's ok to get help. It isn't an admission of defeat It's what'll let you focus on what matters, and better support your team.

Most people dread opening their inbox. No wonder—the average professional spends over 3 hours daily on email, with half that time completely wasted. But email overload isn't inevitable. It's a mathematical equation we can solve. I call it the TNT formula. To reduce the total time spent on email (T), we need to address both variables: the number of messages we receive (N) and the time we spend per message (t). Here's what works: - Open up office hours instead of endless email chains - Delay delivery to slow down the email ping-pong - Tag emails by urgency ("Today" or "This Week") - Process emails in batches during scheduled times By treating email management as a formula rather than an endless task, we can dramatically reduce time spent in our inboxes. Make your inbox work for you, not the other way around.