Overwhelmed by work email. AIBU to ask for your tips and tricks to deal with it?

[anotheronenow]

I have a big job. I am in the second year of a promotion to department head. One DC at Uni, one DC at high school. DP in similar but lower stress position (not a head). Get about 100-150 emails every day (some are replies to replies) and I am going under. Can't get them all replied to because I spend all day putting out the fires. The lower priority ones then turn into fires.

Am in first year of menopause so can't remember things the way I used to be able to. I've worked for 25+ years to get where I am, and I am at the top of my game in other ways (research etc), but the lack of ability to deal with email is causing me to to regret my choices. Everything else about my job is great, and I am enjoying the variety, the ability to fix problems, set up systems to help people etc. I've learned so much from wise mumsenetters, how to make a chicken last 3 days, how to choose "naice" ham, how to ask for a diagram if I see the words "parking thread" how to sell my house, get a CCJ against my roofer, so AIBU to ask you how the f**K you deal with your emails so you don't go under?

Emails are e, e.g. from colleagues wanting stuff or questions answered, higher up admins telling me to do stuff I can't do so need to explain, clients needing answers yesterday, lower down admins needing approvals, all coming into same place as colleagues outside organisation who I am collaborating on research with, and responses to my own emails asking people to do stuff usually they want clarification or more guidance and I just don't have time...

[anotheronenow]

I cannot thank everyone who's replied so far enough. I'm pulling everything out and making a list. I am going to acknowledge the wise women of mumsnet in my next book which I might actually finish now thanks to these helpful suggestions. I love the four D's, also I should pick up the phone myself, because my emails result in replies, recognize a shit assistant is part of it, recognize my job is not emails, don't reply right away, ignore some, make people help themselves by not replying, ignore cc's. The realization that my own reluctance to add on more meetings and more phone calls is partially responsible will help me change here. THANK YOU!!!! 🌸

[iwanttobreakfree1234]

1. sort by sender - delete all notifications, newsletters, and emails you know you don’t need to read
2. anything you don’t need to read but would like to goes into a folder so you can get to it if you get time.
3. sort by subject line - bring all the thread together so you can figure out if you need to do anything/ respond more quickly
4. create a waiting for a reply folder - if you are waiting for a reply to an email move the chain out of your inbox (check and chase on this folder once a week)
5. if you need an urgent reply phone/teams/walk over and ask them - emails create emails, don’t add to your problem
6. if it’s taking you more than 2 paragraphs to explain in an email then it’s a meeting instead
7. if you don’t need to do it/reply to it then don’t- again emails create emails.
8. set your emails to work offline - this lets you access all your emails for info but your replies don’t go out (and therefore don’t generate more emails until you are ready) and no new work comes in to distract you. if someone needs you urgently they will phone/teams/walk over
9. never reply to an non-urgent email right away, don’t reply to low priority emails the same day. Write your reply and delay delivery- set realistic boundaries on when people can expect you to reply, it stops people chasing you if they don’t hear back right away.
10. never reply or acknowledge a chasing email unless you have actually messed up and left it too long/failed to meet a SLA/missed a (realistic) deadline- if you apologise for not replying then you are reinforcing their beliefs about how quickly they think you should reply.
11. if someone sets an unrealistic date for a reply then break rule number 10 to tell them, but if you don’t see the email in time, don’t apologise or acknowledge the deadline. If they mention it tell them you were focusing on high priority tasks and didn’t see their email in time, advise them that it’s better to call you if they need an urgent reply (people rarely do this, it’s easier to be unreasonable in writing)
12. sort your emails into categories, by system/problem/type of query then respond in batches so you can get in the zone.
13. anything high priority goes into a ‘to do today’ folder and only work from that folder until everything is done.
14. delegate - if you don’t need to do it and someone else can do it then delegate. Don’t explain how to do it (unless they are new and you are sure they can’t figure it out), if they don’t know they will ask. Don’t fall into the trap of doing everything yourself because it’s faster than showing someone else. It might be faster this time but will it still be faster the 50th time you’ve done it yourself.
15. stop with the fluff- explain to your team/colleagues etc that you have a lot on your plate and that you apologise in advance if your emails are a bit more brisk than usual, you still care about their weekends/cats/tattoos/ haunted attic and would love to hear about them at lunch, but please don’t get offended if you forget to ask over email.

[EmmaStone]

I went on a really good (whole company - that's crucial!) course a couple of years ago about email, and it really made me think about how I was managing it. I'd recommend similar. Many of the tips didn't really apply to my role, but if I'm busy, and someone needs something urgently from me, they'll have to find me or pick up the phone. I will email when I get the opportunity. Yes to turning off the notifications (although I then slightly panic when I see a stream of unread messages, but once I start going through them, there's often a conversation that's resolved itself).

Re menopause, I've also just done a (whole company again!) menopause awareness webinar, which was great, and has got people talking. For me personally, I will be seeking HRT at any slight symptom, is that something you'd consider? Anecdotally, it seems to improve issues almost instantly.

And what about your home admin, is your DH doing his fair share? Does he get school communications too? Since my DH was put on the schools' mailing lists, he takes equal responsibility for dealing.

[tickticksnooze]

you still care about their weekends/cats/tattoos/ haunted attic

Your team sounds fun.

So many of the internal emails I receive are people treating email like an instant messenger instead of using our actual IM software.

If you allow yourself to be interrupted by every email to try and respond instantly people will expect it and continue bugging you. For the people who shouldn't have chosen email if you ignore them for a while and respond via IM/phone when you're ready, they (eventually) learn to take a more appropriate route in the first place.

[tickticksnooze]

but if I'm busy, and someone needs something urgently from me, they'll have to find me or pick up the phone.

Yes yes. Email is not for urgent communication so the responsibility there sits with the person emailing when they should have picked up the phone.

[JaceLancs]

I block out first 30-60 minutes every day to go through emails over a leisurely coffee then delete any that are obviously junk or ones I’ve been ccd into out of courtesy
I then sort into folders and red flag the most urgent that need responding to that morning
I do the same after lunch
once or twice a week I set aside a few hours to deal with those that have built up
I also have my own version of the 4 Ds

[dillydally24]

The 4 D's is something I need to implement! I get somewhere between 100-300 emails a day and have over 1,400 unread emails in my inbox. It stresses me out so much and makes me feel ashamed and guilty!

[FivePotatoesHigh]

You need to nip some of this stuff in the bud. For example, admins who ask you to do things you can’t? Have a conversation about it and then deprioritise these emails.

[matisseshand]

support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/use-conversation-clean-up-to-delete-redundant-messages-70179d54-fa57-48ce-95fd-416d72e5ccd4


OP!! Conversation clean up will reduce your emails. I’ve linked the Microsoft instructions above. Do it!!

[gretr]

I got double that amount. I turn all notifications off so I can concentrate on the work I have to do. Most are just for my information so I don’t need to reply. I have said to my team to call if urgent. Sometimes you need to put things down in writing to ensure everything is legally covered, but if they’re expecting you to receive 150 emails and respond to them, then that’s a job in itself.

[Lennybenny]

Colour code filter your emails.
Change the "rules" so you can see the ones from people you have to reply to.

[LookItsMeAgain]

@catmg

Filter! Anything you are cc'd into goes into a low priority folder and you send an auto reply to let ppl know that you don't read cc emails so they'd better not bother sending them, or call you instead if they actually need to!

100% this.

Set up rules on your mailbox to move any emails where your name is in the CC or BCC field to a separate folder (call the folder "CC emails" and "BCC emails"). Have an automatic reply stating that only emails where you are in the "To:" field will be responded to and only in due course (give yourself breathing space to even go through those ones).
That should get through at least 70% of the emails.

Also, in the automatic reply, state that if someone/thing needs your immediate attention, then to contact X (PA if you have one) or to contact you on Skype/Teams/Zoom, but this is to be restricted to critical issues only.

Anything else, you set aside perhaps 10 mins each hour to review what has come in, in the intervening time, and create Tasks from some of them, meetings from others and the rest you can respond to as and when.

Try not to let this overwhelm you. Most emails are nonsense and waffle and I'd say of 10 emails that I get, I actually need to respond to maybe 3 of them. The rest are just informational.

[keeprunningupthathill]

When I need to do the technical part of my job I put my out of office on saying not going to read emails today, I'm sure it makes a difference as people see that before they email and don't bother.

[Merlott]

In Outlook you can drag an email to the calendar icon to create it as an event. I do this when an email is actually a task, because I use my calendar to block out ALL of my time. I drag blocks around day to day and resize them if something takes longer or shorter time to do. Cuts down on people booking pointless meetings as they can then see my time is pre booked with important stuff. I can also report on exactly what fires have consumed my time this week..! Using categories to colour code really helps to identify repeat offenders.

You can also use the "flagged" view in Outlook to flag stuff for future response, and tick off the stuff that you've dealt with or doesn't need a response. It is just a case of setting up the search filter and then it will show in your inbox folder structure. Unfortunately I still drowned trying to manage email this way so went back to ignoring everything unless critical and needing to be dragged onto my calendar..!!

[HunterTheDanceInstructor]

Oh, and my other tip is one that others have also said- don’t get into the habit of replying to every email immediately. I try to come back within 24 hours for those that are non-urgent. It’s amazing how many “ignore this, I found what I was looking for” follow-ups come after about 4 hours when someone didn’t get the immediate response they expected and have to do the actual work themselves.

[bringarosie]

My tips are:

1.Set outlook or whatever you are on to open on Calendar so you plan out your day first
.2.Have something assigned to start your day that is a priority for YOU. Otherwise you get sucked into someone else's priorities.
3.Turn off notifications so you only go into email when it suits you.

1. Read cc emails but don't act on them. Unless you are specifically asked. Even if you think you can help don't get sucked in.

5 Set aside time each day for emails. Amazed at the number of people who don't do this. It is part of your job.
6 If you can deal with something immediately then do so within that time.
7 if it will take > 15 minutes then create a task or schedule it in. Tasks are v useful. Stops you having to go through yesterday's emails again with a vague notion of needing to follow up.
8 Read and delete or archive to keep your inbox clear!

[ordinarilyordinary]

Can you not request a secretary or admin support to deal with the vast majority of this?

[AndTwoFilmsByFrancoisTruffaut]

I receive around 400 emails a day, sometimes more. This is what I do

Red flag and set reminders within those red flags
Set up specific rules for certain emails
Change the colour of senders of important emails to red
Forward pre timed emails to arrive on the day you have to actually deal with the matter in the email. Then delete it. This is a great way of managing your time effectively
Reply and delete, your ‘Sent Items’ can be your record of the email should you need to refer to it again. Keep your inbox clean

[MedSchoolRat]

OP: One of my colleagues says he ignores the first 2 emails from most everyone, only acts on the 3rd request. He is in extremely high demand & famously hard to get replies from. Beyond caring if he pisses off senior management.

Put an out of office on saying "emails sent after 5pm or on weekends will be deleted", then follow through on this.

That is hard core. I know it's supposed to be possible to schedule emails to be sent only in work hours, but I can't get that schedule utility to work. So a reply like above would make me have to set reminders to myself to send the sodding email that X who is too important to read because not sent at their special time. Not a good atmosphere for collaboration.

As a science researcher, My biggest work problem is ... people who don't reply to emails. I have a long list of people who are supposed to be my colleagues but they ignore my emails so my own work can't progress. I am ~ 50% as productive as I could be if only everyone replied to my outstanding queries within 3 working days (as opposed to never, or replying 3-4 weeks later with about 3 sentences). I will get in trouble if I try to proceed without their ok or I literally cannot get an essential task done without their/someone's help. I don't even have phone numbers for most of them. To try to resolve the issue over phone isn't realistic since the whole request is often "Please read this many-page document and send comments & your approval." I try setting reasonable deadlines for response and then a week after deadline there's a meeting where someone says "Oh yes, I must send you comments on that document" because people ignore deadlines. <sigh>

[Speedweed]

Love this thread! My tips are:

1.get rid of all the separate fiddly folders - you inevitably have to do a search in them to find what you need (and if you're working at speed you'll inevitably misfile etc), and just have one called 'Read'.

1. When you open your emails, look through them all and immediately dump any that don't need a reply or work to be done on them in 'Read', to get them out of your inbox. Don't delete anything, just dump it in Read. Read then becomes a record of your entire inbox, just out of sight.

1. Emails that require action stay in your inbox, so they become your 'to do' list. Once they are done, move them into Read.

1. Agree with others about turning of notifications and limiting the times you open your email.

5.This is key: Tell everyone that reports into you that if you ask them to go and do something (eg, ask Sally for the quarterly sales figures to do some analysis on them), you don't need them to copy you into their email to Sally, because you then you get Sally's response, usually a few chasers, then the sales figures from Sally, then the email from your report with the actual bit of work. Ifou can trust them (a) to follow instructions and (b) to send a suitably worded email, you only need to see the email containing the work you asked them to do.

Be strict with this and it will vastly, vastly cut down your pointless email traffic.

1. Generally dissuade people from copying you in - often reports do it as a 'I've copied her in, so if it's wrong, she'll tell me' thing, but you don't have time to check every email so it never stops mistakes anyway, so encourage them not to copy you in for 'protection'.

1. Ditto if they send 'thanks' or chatty emails. I don't think it's good to dissuade people from being polite, and sometimes if someone has gone over and above to pull work together, a thank you email is appropriate, but there's never need to include all the cc's...

1. Delay responses, and where you can, if you don't need a reply that day, send them out at towards the end of the day so you'll hopefully get the responses the next day, to slow things down.

1. If you can, set a daily (or twice daily) query time (an hour or so) when reports can call you with any questions. This might also cut down on interrupting IMs.

[topcat2014]

I'm in the second year of my first C level job.

I set up rules so that I see emails from the CEO in one folder. Internal emails in another then external emails elsewhere.

I just click on the thanks icon in outlook 365 rather than replying.

Never bother with "hi John" etc at the start or anything other than auto sig at the end.

Never manually move an email between folders.

Remember if it is really important they will ring :).

Oh, and change your systems so your staff don't need you to have to approve transactions etc on any IT stuff.

[LiftyLift]

Loads of great tips here. I manage other people’s emails as well as my own and my biggest tip I have is to “view by conversation”. It means if you have lots of emails going back and forth on the one chain it groups them together. Less lines are taken up in outlook and it pulls the email to the top of the inbox when there is a new reply. It’s helped a lot of the execs I work with who often miss replies to things.

[PurplePansy05]

I think you may need a mid-level manager below you.

Second idea, speak to your colleagues whom you supervise and ask if they could do wrap up emails - for example instead of emailing you 25 times a day in relation to the same matter, can they do a wrap up email with bullet points/a summary once a day?

[introverteccentric]

@anotheronenow

I have a big job. I am in the second year of a promotion to department head. One DC at Uni, one DC at high school. DP in similar but lower stress position (not a head). Get about 100-150 emails every day (some are replies to replies) and I am going under. Can't get them all replied to because I spend all day putting out the fires. The lower priority ones then turn into fires.

Am in first year of menopause so can't remember things the way I used to be able to. I've worked for 25+ years to get where I am, and I am at the top of my game in other ways (research etc), but the lack of ability to deal with email is causing me to to regret my choices. Everything else about my job is great, and I am enjoying the variety, the ability to fix problems, set up systems to help people etc. I've learned so much from wise mumsenetters, how to make a chicken last 3 days, how to choose "naice" ham, how to ask for a diagram if I see the words "parking thread" how to sell my house, get a CCJ against my roofer, so AIBU to ask you how the f**K you deal with your emails so you don't go under?

Emails are e, e.g. from colleagues wanting stuff or questions answered, higher up admins telling me to do stuff I can't do so need to explain, clients needing answers yesterday, lower down admins needing approvals, all coming into same place as colleagues outside organisation who I am collaborating on research with, and responses to my own emails asking people to do stuff usually they want clarification or more guidance and I just don't have time...

Email filters, I get a similar amount of emails like you do and I have them auto rerouted via outlook, high priority come directly into my inbox and the less important or time sensitive divert into another folder to pick up as and when - worked for me for the past 4yrs and people roughly know when to expect a response from me.

[Beancounter1]

My tip is that the inbox is the to-do list.

Quickly skim-read through each email when it arrives (or when you are in your 'doing emails' time slot).
Ask yourself "do I need to do anything?"

If the answer is no, then either immediately either A) hit delete, or B) drag it into another folder for reference. (Have folders by topic or project. Have one for miscellaneous stuff that you don't know if you can delete immediately as you may just need it again.) DON'T leave the email in the inbox.

If the answer is yes, either A) reply immediately if it is quick and simple and takes very little thought, THEN DELETE the email because your reply will be in the Sent folder, or B) leave it in the inbox to action in due course.

Once a week or fortnight, may be on Friday when you are too tired to do anything else, go through the Sent folder, and either A) if the matter is closed or you had a reply, either hit delete, or drag your email into the relevant folder for future reference, or B) if you are waiting for a reply, re-forward with a polite one-liner "Did you get a chance to look at this yet?" or similar, then DELETE the first email you sent, keeping only the second.

Keep on top of the deleting - this system only works if you keep on always deleting or dragging.
The system forces you to ask that initial question "do I need to do anything?" and so keeps you thinking clearly and making decisions.

If at the end of the day/week you still have too many 'to-do' emails waiting in your inbox, then you need to look at your general efficiency and your workload. Are you wasting time in meetings? Are you spending too long 'prettying-up' spreadsheets or documents unnecessarily and unproductively? Is your workload too high? If it is a workload problem, tell your manager this every two months until something is done.