Think, Schedule, Do: 3 Steps to Tame the Chaos in your Inbox

The head of department sighs about four new emails just 10 minutes after the start of the team meeting. After the lunch break, the inbox is overflowing with status updates from seven other tools and then there are all the unwanted “I've got something for you that will increase your ROI by 200%” emails. When really, all we want is to be left in peace to work productively.

If this is your goal too, then the 3 steps Think, Schedule, Do are exactly the right solution for more efficiency and effectiveness in your inbox. Of course, we will also show you how InLoox for Outlook can help you achieve this.

Step 1: Think

The primary purpose of emails is to pass on information. Sometimes this content is just that, information. And sometimes they are actually calls to action. So stop and think: is the content of this email pure information? Then read it carefully and respond with a brief, appreciative “Thank you for the information.” Hit the reply button and archive the email.

Is the information in the email or are the attachments relevant to one of your projects or tasks? Then InLoox comes into play: either file the email as a document directly in a project folder or attach it to a task as a PDF file. The information is now where it belongs - in the context of the project, readily available for you and the project team.

^{Image: Link attachments and e-mail as documents to the task and add them to the project folder ©InLoox GmbH}

If the email contains a call to action, think: is this something I can do right now with minimal effort? If yes, then do it immediately (see Time Boxing pro tip). If not, because it will take more time, not everything is clear or because it is a task in a project, then turn the email into an InLoox task.

^{Image: Turning an e-mail into a project task in InLoox for Outlook ©InLoox GmbH}

Step 2: Schedule

Once emails have become project-related tasks, schedule them. Either you have deadlines or deadlines resulting from the project plan, or you estimate the effort (workload) yourself and determine the start and end date of the task. Either way, this step is essential for staying organized and InLoox assisting you with a clear task list in Outlook.

BONUS InLoox has an AI-supported automatic task creation feature that suggests the estimated effort and a deadline that you can customize and accept.

^{Video: The InLoox AI recognizes tasks in emails and creates them automatically ©InLoox GmbH}

BONUS Even if the e-mail is not related to a project, you can turn it into a private InLoox task.

Step 3: Do

You may need to edit a few details in the InLoox tasks or communicate with your project team using the comments function. Basically, at this point you only need your Outlook to record the time required to complete the task by clicking on the stopwatch icon.

^{Image: Using the stopwatch to record the amount of effort required to complete a task ©InLoox GmbH}

You have now reached the point where you can confidently close Outlook. Everything important is in InLoox and you can now devote yourself to productive work instead.

BONUS As soon as you have completed your tasks, InLoox sends a notification of this status change to the team you are collaborating with on the project.

^{Image: Outlook notification email ©InLoox GmbH}

Best Practice Tips

Switch off notifications

Productivity professionals know: Outlook and Teams pop-up notifications interrupt and should be turned off. We all know it from our smartphones - it pings and we automatically reach out and want to know what's going on. What is annoying - and disrespectful - in private conversations is also counterproductive in the work environment. Therefore, simply deactivate the notification function for Outlook and Teams in the Windows settings.

Timeboxing for day-to-day business

The time management method of timeboxing is very simple: you set a fixed time frame for a specific task or activity, including an objective, and block it in your calendar. So if you need to process emails as part of your daily business that can be dealt with immediately, enter a timebox - e.g. one hour - in your calendar. The exact time is up to you. If you are the type of person who likes to have this burden off your shoulders so that you can concentrate 100% on the project work, then set this timebox first thing in the morning. It is also possible that the daily business needs to be dealt with several times a day. Then set another timebox, e.g. after lunch.

The blog post Working productively with timeboxing explains the details.

Newsletter folder with a rule

There are newsletters with added value. Either because they contain important information about a tool that you use every day or because they contain news from your industry or area of work. Nevertheless, newsletters are rarely the basis for your daily or project business. That's why they shouldn't fill your inbox, but should be placed in a separate folder using rules. Browse through this folder from time to time, just like in a library. In Outlook, this works wonderfully with rules.

Conclusion

No productive work takes place in your inbox - we all know that. However, working through emails keeps us busy and can fool us into thinking we're being productive. With the three simple steps Think, Schedule and Do, you can get out of this productivity illusion and into effective work. In order for InLoox for Outlook to support you, activate the add-in in Outlook.

This article describes all the features of InLoox for Outlook modern add-in.