Smart Work. Crowley Dermot

as you start to manage all of your activities from one platform.

Organise your inputs

      Once you have set up a centralised system for managing your actions, you need to look at what feeds this system. How does work arrive on your desk (or in your inbox), and how do you make good decisions about what work should get your time and attention? These inputs are the second element that needs to be considered in your integrated productivity system.

      Many of us receive hundreds of inputs every day in the form of emails, phone calls, voicemails, instant messages, physical interruptions, meeting actions and thoughts. Much of this is just noise and does not deserve much of our time and attention, but some of it is important and does need action. Should we do it now or later, though? We need to avoid reacting instantly to every incoming email, but at the same time, we don't want this work just to pile up until it overwhelms us.

      The key to managing your inputs effectively is to take a proactive approach to processing incoming work and to create a connection between your inputs system and your actions system. New inputs that need your attention should be either dealt with immediately or recorded in your action management system, depending on their urgency. Using your inbox as an action system for emails does not work, as you just end up with a pile of ‘action emails’ buried in a pile of ‘non-action emails’, with no sense of their respective priority or timing.

      Your inbox has one purpose, and that is to receive emails. Just like the letterbox outside your house, it should be emptied regularly and the mail dealt with appropriately. Of course, on any given day you will receive way more emails than letters, and you need strategies to reduce the noise so you only have to deal with relevant messages. You also need an efficient filing system in place so you can file things quickly and easily – and find them again just as quickly and easily.

      Your ability to manage the flow of incoming work, whether it is email or any other form of input, is critical to your productivity. If you do not control your inbox, it will control you. Email is not the main reason you have a job. You could contribute so much more than that, if you only had the time. We need to make the time by being clever and harnessing the power of technology.