Rethinking Email

Good insight from Chairman Gruber, related to the email system he's started employing since moving to Mail.app

...I can classify all incoming personal email into three broad categories: (a) messages that are either very important or very interesting; (b) messages that are utterly non-interesting; and (c) those which fall somewhere in-between.

The vast majority of my email falls into the latter category. Under my previous “system”, I let them pile up in my inboxes, under the assumption that some day I’d get around to answering many of them. Under the new system, if I don’t respond immediately after reading them, they go right into my archive. Out of sight, out of mind.

For folks who haven't crossed the line to where this realization really clicks, I understand that this can sound harsh, even uncaring. But once you have gotten into the habit, you realize the amount of bullshit you had been shoveling to yourself -- hoping that all that stuff in your inbox, which you knew in your heart you'd never do anything about, would just...what?...grow wings and fly a response back to its sender? It's daft.

It's so tough to be honest with yourself about your real situation with email, but once you've made the admission, you're weirdly freed up to communicate more authentically, and, in my experience, with a renewed enthusiasm.

Most businesses and an increasing number of people (including me) are looking for friction-free ways for teams to deal with incoming public email accounts. Whether you're managing a home eBay company, fielding FAQs, or reviewing incoming resumes, it seems like there must be some good, lightweight web apps for teams to use and collaborate around.

Ron Richards just pointed me to Cerberus, and I've previously looked at DayLite, MailTank, and Sugar. I like the trouble-ticket approach in some ways, but I also wish it could be prettied up -- ideally including remote form submission from your own domains.

edit 2007-08-27 09:17:40: Shoulda mentioned: relevant self-links are okay on this one.

Perfect

I noticed a lot of people are favoriting this screen grab of the "Perfect" iTunes equalizer setting (I posted it to Flickr, so I won't keep forgetting it when I need it).

Ever since I saw this in that Mac OS X Hints article, I've used it as my default equalizer in iTunes -- it seems to give a nice pop to MP3 tracks in particular.

HOWTO and specific settings from the original article:

Open the equalizer, and from the pop-up menu, select "Make Preset." Call it "Perfect," because it is, and set the following levels, from left to right (skip the Preamp section):

db +3, +6, +9, +7, +6, +5, +7, +9, +11, +8 db

• It's Time to Stand Up to Your Email - WSJ.com - Quoth your (alas, unlinked) author, "checking email and not doing anything about it is the worst habit." It's true.
• Custom search forms with Views and Fastsearch | Lullabot - I love Views so danged much, and fantastic recipes like this make me just point and gesticulate whenever people say "Why Drupal?" Them Lullabots are some smart cookies. [via deli/siliconmeadow]
• Antony Johnston (Getting Things Written) - Thoughtful, complete, and coherent GTD-based workflow optimized by an accomplished freelance writer. An excellent read. [Thanks, Kelly DeConnick]
• Cool Tool: Craftsman Auto Switch - "Whenever you turn your tool on, it will automatically turn the other outlets on. When you turn your tool off, it waits a few seconds before turning the accessory outlets off..."
• Pile of Index Cards - a photoset on Flickr - Okay, I'm not made of stone, people; I admit that some byzantine systems totally turn my crank. I wonder if Josh D has seen this one.
• Michael Randall [Giving More Engaging Presentations] - Ton of great resources on doing presentations.
• Lunchbox - Find lunch around your workplace - Fun Yelp and gMaps mashup for deciding where to eat. Would be super-handy for traveling. [via Daring Fireball]
• Eye for an iPhone - Jerzy wins the internet this week with this handsome Chuck Norris-esque tribute to Scott Bourne's mad fighting skillz (context: MBW 54). Because you know who else hated iPhones? That's right....

Since my Google Tech Talk (previously) caught fire last month (it's gotten over 100,000 views so far), I've been receiving a lot of really nice email, comments, and questions about how I put my presentations together. I'm happy to oblige.

• Wired Blogs: Gadget Lab - “The Fatboy Nano will play video and come in matt black [sic], silver, cranberry, light blue and light green.”
• Buddy List Zero: action-based instant messaging - “Want to really Get Things Done? Then turn off IM. These are tips on the skills, tools and attitude needed to empty your buddy list — and then keep it that way.” Roll, Sippey, roll.
• stolen iphone | Ask MetaFilter - “So, yes, the phone is as dead as a brick and considering that when you buy a new iPhone you can’t even get past the picture of the globe all the stuff inside the phone is pretty much locked up also.”
• PocketTweets - My pick of the week on yesterday’s MacBreak Weekly is this beautiful app for doing Twitter on your iPhone. Breaks out of the WAP-ish, Gopher-ish menu approach by crafting a lickable AJAX app that’s all about the iPhone experience.
• Coffee and Tea Mugs Ensure Proper Ratio - “…have a coloring guide on the inside rim to ensure the proper ratio of coffee/tea to milk.” Sometimes it not just a cup. Super cool.
• KQED | Perspectives: Get Off Your iPod - Area Man protests lack of face-to-face human communication by making, wearing t-shirt.

The Great Uncluttering

Matt Haughey recently posted a Flickr set documenting a dramatic, decluttering re-do of a spare bedroom that transformed it from the typical suburban catch-all/playroom into a tidy space for hanging out and watching Monsters with the familia.

before	after

As I am wont to do, I was thinking out loud on Twitter this morning.

I'm convinced that, for better or worse, a lot of computer-related habits come straight out of using the default settings. For example a stock Mail.app install checks your email every 5 minutes (I reset mine to 'Manual') and, without interdiction, Apple's mail program will also create all your new messages as "Rich Text" (Nuh uh. Mine? 'Plain Text').

You may share my Address Book pollution problem — having too many orphaned names that got scribbled on a PDA or were manually added but never fleshed out (like: 10 years ago!).

Here’s a really stupidly useful Smart Group for Address Book that helps identify entries without any real information attached to them.

Listen:

43 Folders is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

• The software awards scam « Successful Software - Five stars! Reminds me of the ubiquitous mid-'90s "Cool Site of the Day!" awards -- the web equivalent of "World's Greatest Grandpa."
• scottberkun: How to write a book - the short honest truth - "Writing, as opposed to publishing, requires almost no financial or physical resources. A pen, a paper and effort are all that has been required for hundreds of years."
• CatCubed: Gmail, IMAP, and iPhones - Part 2 - The Tutorial - "As I posted previously, I’ve been experimenting with finding a my perfect iPhone email set up." Neato-sounding (if kind of complicated) setup for iPhone-friendlier email.
• Photo-Auto Maps (1907) - "Rand McNally published what were called Photo-Auto Maps, showing photos of streets and landmarks, with arrows pointing you to the correct path leading toward your destination." Awesome. Like a photo version of a AAA TripTik.
• Gruber’s Trick - I do this all the time too. Truth is, I’m way more likely to find a site via referrers than any other way. I don’t link to ‘em all, and it’s not out of pure ego — more like way limited time, above average signal-to-noise ratio, and the occasional unavoidably awesome serendipity. BTW, this not necessarily a suggestion for people who want a link from here: if it's crap, it sinks. More just an “annoying trick” that I’m totally fine sharing openly with you. [via: DF]
• SunRocket Saga: Still No Happy Ending for Many - I ordered my ViaTalk service and VoIP dingus on July 20th. Half a dozen unanswered emails and 3 weeks later: nada. Not classy, ViaTalk. Not classy at all. Makes me want to open up a big-ass Can of Cory.

For some time now, I've encouraged people to consider abandoning the byzantine folder structure that most of us used to employ to "organize" our email. In fact, this kind of functional simplicity is something I've started to think of as a pillar of Inbox Zero.

In addition to helping explode the myth that most email messages have any life once their actions have been liberated, it's a healthy habit to actively remove any unnecessary systematic fiddling that doesn't handsomely pay back the effort that habitually goes into it.

And, as ever: yes, some of you -- because of the incredibly unique nature of your work in an office -- will need to have 500 taxonomic mailboxes, a monthly archives by project, a person-by-person collection going back to 1983, and a multiply-copied CC'd team archives, coded by color and identified with helpful icons you found on Gopher in 1992. Sure, why not. If that's working for you, by all means, keep fiddling and filing.

But, if you're ready to admit you might be turning a crank that's potentially not hooked-up to anything, here's my four favorite ways to leverage the intelligence of Mail.app for drop-dead simple archiving.

• PingMe - What *Should* You Be Doing? - "Not a good time? Pings are interactive! Just reply to the message to reschedule for a later date or time." [via: digg/kevinrose]
• [Quicksilver going Open Source?] - A1c0r said: "Future core development - whatever form it takes - will take place largely in open source." Now there's an intriguing development.
• Random iPhone User Tips - O'Reilly Mac DevCenter Blog - Great tips and picks -- love the business card idea.
• In the Loop - The OmniDorken and I spoke at Apple yesterday, and I was as happy as a little girl. Ken used the occasion to announce that Ethan has officially joined the OG team and will be moving Team Schoonover across the pond. Yays, all around!
• First Encounter with an OLPC XO / A 12-Year-Old’s Review - Joey gets his adult-sized hands on a "One Laptop Per Child" machine.
• iPhone Wallpapers - Chris Glass has made some lovely photos to use for iPhone wallpaper. Man's got a great eye.
• xkcd ["The Internet has always had loud dumb people..."] - "WHY NOT TELL LOUIS ARMSTRONG TO HIS FACE"

Pardon a meta post, but I wanted to offer an apology for the paucity of new feature-length posts here recently, as well as to provide some context for where that time's been going. A little "behind the scenes" insight, if you're curious.

Here's one of my favorite life-hacky tips from Peter Walsh (guy from Clean Sweep, author of It's All Too Much, and inspiration for my recent War on Clutter).

After you've done a major purge of your closet, remove all the remaining clothes that live on hangers, and put them back in backwards, such that the open end of each hanger now faces you. Got it?

Then, mark your calendar for six months (or whatever) from today, and go back to your business as usual. Except that after every time you wear a shirt or a jacket or a skirt or what have you, when you replace the item, make sure the hanger faces the opposite/usual way (with the opening in the back).

When your n months have passed, and your calendar reminds you that it's time, open your closet and remove every piece of clothing on a backward hanger; the chances are good you can give it away without the slightest pain, because you just clearly demonstrated that you don't wear it.

Here's why I love this.

MacBreak Weekly 52: Ten Cents A Dance

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Hosts: Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann, Scott Bourne, Andy Ihnatko, and Alex Lindsay

We take a look at Apple's new iMacs, and iLife and iWork 08...

Here's a direct MP3 download of MBW 52.

Of course, when I chose iCal as my anti-pick, I said it with love. Much love.

• The Limits of Efficiency - "It turned out that my problem wasn't that I was insufficiently efficient. The problem was that I was way too overextended."
• Macworld: First Look: Numbers - "The way Numbers works goes against nearly 20 years of training, so I really have to try not to 'think Excel' when using the program." [via: Lifehacker]
• Start Here - Neato-looking notebooks that you can "link together." [via del.icio.us/jstarkweather]
• Twitter / Andre Torrez: [on to-do lists] - "How about less to-do apps, and more apps that help me do things?"
• 404 Pros - "Inspired by other sites' 404s and ready to create your own work of error art? Here is some information to get you started."

• Google Documents API Released - I wonder what kind of Quicksilver plug-in you could cook up with this.
• The Sound of Young America: I'm going on vacation. - Jesse Thorn's gone on vacation, leaving the Maximum Fun keys with Paul Scheer (Human Giant), Bill Hader (SNL), and yours truly. My first post is an Archive.org lovefest. Stay tuned for more theoretical awesomeness.
• Pick Your YouTube Preview Picture - This is cool enough, but I love how Blip.tv lets you upload your own thumbnail. That's the cheese. (Nobody asked me, but if I were Tay Zonday I'd pick this frame for Chocolate Rain [n.b.: pages make noise])
• [ Tagamac ] [ Tagging best practices ] - Tagging is one domain where I am completely adrift and will happily take all of the help I can get. [via: Daring Fireball]
• Doin' it, delegatin' it, deferrin' it - "David Allen Has a Posse" [via: Drew Bell]

Short Subject: Now You're Talking (1927)

prosaic [on email]

Chris Streeter picks up on a thread that I've been thinking about a lot lately (and he's kind to mention the relationship to Inbox Zero).

He reminds us that the etiquette for using a telephone was once well-established enough to earn a place in the encyclopedia:

Etsy :: show me your action list and i will show you my inbox

Awesome.

[via: Kelly Sue]