I told you that we “banned” internal email at the office. After about 10 weeks of no internal email, I blogged about it and got critics left and right (it also was the most reblogged post in the blog’s history) about how “stupid” that is. Fact is, it works for us. But we’re all in the same office so it forces us to talk to one another (which takes A LOT less time than email) and the culture is changing as we become more productive.

But I am still facing the dilemma you describe above – I still receive external email and people expect me to answer their emails immediately. Some days I want to turn on my out of office and say, “Thanks for your email. I received it and I PROMISE I’ll get back to you. If I don’t within seven days, you may email me a reminder.”

Most days I just tell people (new clients, new vendors, partners, etc.) that the best way to reach me, and get immediate response, is through a Twitter direct message. Probably in a year I’ll have to set boundaries on that, too.

If anyone is interested in reading how we did it internally, the link is here: http://bit.ly/Rnvng
[rq=274083,0,blog][/rq]Is It True Behind Every Successful Woman Is a Man?

I am encouraged by your steps and I am eagerly waiting to see how it works out. Lord knows most of us are in a similar boat and could use some help on the email front.

Keep it up. report back with progress if you please!

Oh – yeah… in case you are interested in some other “productivity” monitoring solutions that help give you a reality check – try out http://www.RescueTime.com – something I’m dabling with to help track overall productivity. Shocking actually.

Rick
e-mail junkie