Sunday, May 18, 2008

Life: scripted by the Inbox

as i write this blog, i am installing an add-in called xobni to outlook.

one of the features i liked about it is the analytics that it is expected to have about emails flowing into the inbox.. see sample from the weekend traffic. the weekday traffic is much more..


i am hoping that it will give me ideas to tame my inbox that is growing out of control.


at one time, the main problem was spam.
nowadays, it is being in a CC for a 'reply all' thread seems to be a major contributor.

if i stay away from my inbox - or am not connected for a few hours, i can be sure of another few dozens mails flowing in.

I have now come to classify my mails into three categories.

the first are the ones that i am expecting - either information, updates or actions that i need.
the second are some subscriptions [newsletters etc] that i would like to have.
the third category - that is presently about 60% of my mailbox load - are things that i really do not need, but cannot delete without reading - as there could be some implied contribution from me.

I have always wanted to infer more on the patterns of mails and the persons from whom i receive mails.

just when i was getting convinced that the sole purpose of my life was to respond to emails, i feel that this kind of a tool would give me better control on my life outside the inbox!

No comments: