--- layout: post status: publish published: true title: Using Producteev to manage overbearing Inboxes wordpress_id: 480 wordpress_url: http://www.martineve.com/?p=480 date: !binary |- MjAxMC0xMi0xNSAyMDowMDoxMSArMDEwMA== date_gmt: !binary |- MjAxMC0xMi0xNSAyMDowMDoxMSArMDEwMA== categories: - Technology - Academia tags: - Organisation - time management - email comments: - id: 5377 author: Catherine Pope author_email: me@catherinepope.co.uk author_url: http://blog.catherinepope.co.uk date: !binary |- MjAxMC0xMi0xNSAyMDo1MToxMiArMDEwMA== date_gmt: !binary |- MjAxMC0xMi0xNSAyMDo1MToxMiArMDEwMA== content: Thanks for the Top Tip, Martin. I'm going to give it a go, as one of my many resolutions for 2011 is to find a better way of dealing with email, rather than just squeaking at it impotently. - id: 5395 author: Tweets that mention Using Producteev to manage overbearing Inboxes | Martin Paul Eve -- Topsy.com author_email: '' author_url: http://topsy.com/www.martineve.com/2010/12/15/using-producteev-to-manage-overbearing-inboxes/?utm_source=pingback&utm_campaign=L2 date: !binary |- MjAxMC0xMi0xNSAyMjowODoxOSArMDEwMA== date_gmt: !binary |- MjAxMC0xMi0xNSAyMjowODoxOSArMDEwMA== content: ! '[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Producteev, Martin Eve. Martin Eve said: New blog post: Using Producteev to manage overbearing Inboxes http://martineve.com/?p=480 #phdchat [...]' - id: 5982 author: David A. Desrosiers author_email: setuid@gmail.com author_url: http://blog.gnu-designs.com/ date: !binary |- MjAxMC0xMi0yMCAxNzoyNToxOSArMDEwMA== date_gmt: !binary |- MjAxMC0xMi0yMCAxNzoyNToxOSArMDEwMA== content: ! "I don't get it... so you're still reading and processing every single email, and then forwarding it to Producteev, so it gets converted to a task. \r\n\r\nHow is that helping the mail problem? \r\n\r\nIn fact, it's making it worse, because you end up touching the same email more than once. I never read an email more than once, unless it's reference material (and filed in my Reference archive). \r\n\r\nYou should process mail using the \"4-D\" method: \r\n\r\n1. Do it (perform the task, answer the question, respond to sender, etc.) \r\n\r\n2. Delegate it (and delete it, after sending it to someone else to process, act on, respond)\r\n\r\n3. Defer it (set it aside to work on later, because it will take time to complete, or time to read or research your response upon). \r\n\r\n4. Delete it (trash, spam, unnecessary, joke emails, etc. or requires no action on your part).\r\n\r\nThere's a 5. also... Archive it (into the Reference folder)." - id: 5983 author: Martin Paul Eve author_email: martin@martineve.com author_url: '' date: !binary |- MjAxMC0xMi0yMCAxNzo0MDoxNCArMDEwMA== date_gmt: !binary |- MjAxMC0xMi0yMCAxNzo0MDoxNCArMDEwMA== content: ! "Actually, this is entirely within the scope of a 4-D method; it's not some incompatible alienated mode of working...\r\n\r\nSteps 1, 2, 4 and 5 are self-evident; if you can do something instantly, you do it. I'm not proposing that you make a task for an email to which you can respond with no effort.\r\n\r\nThe problem comes, though, when you defer. Most emails I get require some sort of pre-preparation for reply, or involve a real-world action, sometimes months down the line (\"maybe we should contact someone about writing a review for our upcoming issue; best to sent that in June\"). Producteev gets them out of my Inbox and assigns a date by which I must reply and take the action. It then reminds me to do it and syncs that reminder to my phone. By forwarding the email, when that task comes up (months later) I can instantly remind myself of the context from which the task has arrived. I don't want an email hanging around for 6 months at the bottom of my pile which then runs the risk of being forgotten." ---

I typically have (well, had) about 200 emails in my Inbox, which was just as a result of trying to keep on top of things that I needed to do at some point in the future. Predictably, the box kept growing. No matter how fast I swept away the other 200 or so emails that came in over a week, the original stash never went down. I also missed quite a few things due to not having a system. Today, however, my Inbox looks somewhat different. In fact, there's no privacy violation if I post a screenshot:

An empty Inbox

Yep, zero. 0 emails. Nada!

Instead, I converted them into a task list using a nifty system called Producteev. Here's how it works.

  1. Sign up for an account at producteev.com
  2. Forward emails to task@producteev.com modifying the subject to include a due date and time (eg. #12/19/2010 4pm or Tomorrow 3pm), an importance rating (1* to 5*)
  3. This adds it to your task list with the original message as the attached note.
  4. You can then set up task sync to an android phone using Astrid, or an iPhone using the producteev application
  5. Day to day, you can get a list of your tasks by either going online or emailing task@producteev.com with the subjectline "/today" (no quotes)

I really like this concept because it works from in my Inbox, which is where I typically work. I've had a few problems (been using it for about 2 weeks now) with duplicate entries coming up, but this is hardly a big deal. Best of all, it's free for small scale users such as myself. If you want multiple people to use it for project management, they have paid plans. Quite frankly, though, I'd pay for this as it is.

Neutrality disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Producteev, I just really like their software!