As a product manager you receive a constant stream of emails. As a result, I recommend that all new PMs establish a system for managing their inbox in order to avoid email overload. A good email management system has two key requirements: process incoming emails quickly and ensure you don’t miss critical deadlines and info. There are numerous “inbox-zero” tools and techniques, and they all have their unique pros and cons. Try a few options and stick with the one that best suits your work style. After some experimentation, I now use the 5 Inbox Method combined with Boomerang for Gmail[1].
The 5-inbox method is simpler than it sounds. You create 4 email folders in addition to your main inbox: Today, This Week, This Month (or This Quarter), and FYI. Whenever you receive an email, file it into one of these folders and process accordingly. The time-specific folders force you to do some quick and dirty prioritization, and FYI provides an easy way to track informative emails that don’t require a response. At the end of every day, make sure you’ve addressed everything in the Today folder, and do the same at the end of every week and month for their respective folders.
The 5 Inbox Method works well for processing incoming email and identifying immediate priorities, but it makes it easy to lose track of medium and long-term deadlines (things that fall into This Week or This Month). That’s where Boomerang offers an ideal complementary solution. In addition to filing an e-mail under This Week or This Month, if there’s a specific deadline associated with the email I use Boomerang to schedule it to return to my inbox at the appropriate time. Even if I don’t get a chance to process items in This Week or This Month I don’t miss important deadlines. As an added bonus, Boomerang is great for follow-ups. You can schedule any email (received or sent) to return to your inbox if you don’t receive a reply by a specific time[2].
I found this combination so effective I started using it for my personal email as well. For further tips on implementing the 5-inbox method see The Only Five Email Folders Your Inbox Will Ever Need by Fast Company.
Notes
[1] Disclosure: If you sign-up for a paid boomerang subscription with this link I get 1 month of free service. I recommend starting with the free tier that allows up to 10 boomerangs per month to see how you like it.
[2] Boomerang is great for Gmail and Outlook users, alternatively, Google Inbox has many similar features already built into the service.