The new two-minute rule for email

November 26, 2006 By

I love this new two-minute rule for email from Eric Mack (delete all email that takes more than two minutes to answer). I woke up today to find 48 new emails waiting. Damn, and it’s Sunday. Imagine how many I’ll have on Monday.

This is the problem with answering email — it generates more email.

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  • http://www.techmount.com/ amorson

    IMing workmates solves a lot of email clutter, straight questions, straight answers, less email…. ooh the joy.

  • http://www.techmount.com amorson

    IMing workmates solves a lot of email clutter, straight questions, straight answers, less email…. ooh the joy.

  • http://tweblog.com/ Toby Getsch

    Haven’t you asked / begged to have this problem / opportunity by advertising your email address all over the place?

  • http://tweblog.com/ Toby Getsch

    Haven’t you asked / begged to have this problem / opportunity by advertising your email address all over the place?

  • http://nancyfolsom.wordpress.com/ Nancy

    You dope, Robert. Are you saying you’re only interested in shallow relationships? C’mon. I bet you can apply a bit more subtlety to your incoming messages. It sounds pretty crummy to say “hey, if you have something in depth to say, screw you. I won’t even reply, I’ll just zap your email.” How about:

    “I want to give your email some careful thought, so I’ll reply at more length later (or give you a call). But I wanted you to know I got your email. Thanks!”

    Or if it’s not something you’re interested in or if it’s not someone to whom you have a relationship with, then what about “Thanks for writing me. Unfortunately I don’t have resources to give your email the time and care it deserves.”

    Or, hey, here’s a thought, ignore 10 2-minute trivial replies and use the time to…start a load of laundry *vbg*.

  • http://nancyfolsom.wordpress.com/ Nancy

    You dope, Robert. Are you saying you’re only interested in shallow relationships? C’mon. I bet you can apply a bit more subtlety to your incoming messages. It sounds pretty crummy to say “hey, if you have something in depth to say, screw you. I won’t even reply, I’ll just zap your email.” How about:

    “I want to give your email some careful thought, so I’ll reply at more length later (or give you a call). But I wanted you to know I got your email. Thanks!”

    Or if it’s not something you’re interested in or if it’s not someone to whom you have a relationship with, then what about “Thanks for writing me. Unfortunately I don’t have resources to give your email the time and care it deserves.”

    Or, hey, here’s a thought, ignore 10 2-minute trivial replies and use the time to…start a load of laundry *vbg*.

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  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ Robert Scoble

    Nancy: you do realize it’s only a joke, right? It’s what we all WISH we could do, but can’t.

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ Robert Scoble

    Nancy: you do realize it’s only a joke, right? It’s what we all WISH we could do, but can’t.

  • http://www.zachholman.com/blog Zach Holman

    Robert: Yes, it is a joke, but there’s some shred of truth to it. At least for me personally, I sometimes have a hard time with the “can’t deal with it now” syndrome. Checking email is too convenient, but replying usually isn’t. So you end up with the piles of old email that you should be replying to, in theory. The idea that if you get an email you should take care of necessary replies immediately (or just delete it if you’re going to “leave it for later”) is a valid one.

  • http://www.zachholman.com/blog Zach Holman

    Robert: Yes, it is a joke, but there’s some shred of truth to it. At least for me personally, I sometimes have a hard time with the “can’t deal with it now” syndrome. Checking email is too convenient, but replying usually isn’t. So you end up with the piles of old email that you should be replying to, in theory. The idea that if you get an email you should take care of necessary replies immediately (or just delete it if you’re going to “leave it for later”) is a valid one.

  • Lou

    No, I think this is right on and maybe not a joke after all. It wouldn’t hurt to treat any email that takes more than 2 minutes to reply to as an opportunity to call or visit the person and have the discussion the old-fashioned way. That’s not always possible or practical, but prevents long-winded email threads from missing the point, straying, etc, IMHO.

  • Lou

    No, I think this is right on and maybe not a joke after all. It wouldn’t hurt to treat any email that takes more than 2 minutes to reply to as an opportunity to call or visit the person and have the discussion the old-fashioned way. That’s not always possible or practical, but prevents long-winded email threads from missing the point, straying, etc, IMHO.

  • toivo

    you ask the wrong question. ask “how many conversations do I have?” instead of “how many emails do I get daily?”

    one conversation could equal 2 or 10 emails. gosh, &you wrote a book about it??

  • toivo

    you ask the wrong question. ask “how many conversations do I have?” instead of “how many emails do I get daily?”

    one conversation could equal 2 or 10 emails. gosh, &you wrote a book about it??

  • http://alpascual.com/blog/al albert pascual

    That’s why now you answer one line emails only?
    At least you answer now! ;-)

  • http://alpascual.com/blog/al albert pascual

    That’s why now you answer one line emails only?
    At least you answer now! ;-)

  • http://nancyfolsom.wordpress.com/ Nancy

    Robert- Joke? Nah. Wishful thinking, though. Wishful, wrong-headed thinking. ;-)

  • http://nancyfolsom.wordpress.com/ Nancy

    Robert- Joke? Nah. Wishful thinking, though. Wishful, wrong-headed thinking. ;-)

  • Bess

    I’ve got 1,000 emails on an old account. I’ll need a quick way to delete and delete emails without opening emails.

  • Bess

    I’ve got 1,000 emails on an old account. I’ll need a quick way to delete and delete emails without opening emails.

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  • http://www.orginalcd.com/ فروشگاه اینترنتی

    Robert Scoble mentions a two minute email rule, from Eric Mack. I think that’s a bad rule that only treats symptoms.

  • http://www.orginalcd.com فروشگاه اینترنتی

    Robert Scoble mentions a two minute email rule, from Eric Mack. I think that’s a bad rule that only treats symptoms.