From bfb56ad43fb63f46dc247e6d5382fdeb1e4772cd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Lars Wirzenius Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2023 19:40:35 +0200 Subject: rewrite the whole site Signed-off-by: Lars Wirzenius Sponsored-by: author --- inboxes.mdwn | 171 ----------------------------------------------------------- 1 file changed, 171 deletions(-) delete mode 100644 inboxes.mdwn (limited to 'inboxes.mdwn') diff --git a/inboxes.mdwn b/inboxes.mdwn deleted file mode 100644 index cc6c5f1..0000000 --- a/inboxes.mdwn +++ /dev/null @@ -1,171 +0,0 @@ -Inputs and inboxes -================== - -Consider how you deal with e-mail. All your e-mail arrives, -automatically, unbidden, unwanted, unloved, in one or more inboxes. -You might have one inbox for work, and another for personal use. -Further, you might have automatic filters that move some incoming -e-mail into other folders: software developers are often on many -discussion mailing lists, each of which goes into its own folder. -Each such folder would be a separate inbox. - -A common anti-pattern for people is to keep e-mail in their inboxes. -They read it, and leave it there. The next time they read e-mail, there -might be some new mail, which they read, and leave there. Eventually, -the mail piles up a lot, and it gets hard to find a specific mail you -may need. Even more importantly, it gets hard to know which mails still -require you to do something. Perhaps there was a mail from your boss -you need to re-read? Or a mail from your mother that you need to reply -to? Or perhaps you replied to her already? Can't remember if you did? - -Treating an e-mail folder both as an inbox and an archive of old mail, -and mixing it further up as a list of things to do, leads to confusion, -angst, and stress. - -Let's make a small change to e-mail handling. Let's keep only -unprocessed e-mail in the inboxes, and do one of the following things -for every e-mail in each inbox, after reading it: - -* delete it, if it is unlikely to be of further use; for example, spam, - or stupid jokes from friends -* reply to it immediately, if you can, and it will only take a minute or two; - for example, your mother asks if you'll be visiting next weekend, and you've - already made plans with your partner to go on holiday, so you can reply - at once saying sorry, not this weekend -* move it to a "needs replying" folder, if the mail requires a reply, but - you don't have time to do that right now -* forward it to someone else, perhaps with a cover letter, if it's their job, - not yours, to deal with it; for example, it might be a question only your - boss can answer -* move it to an archival folder, if you think you might need it later on - -(Compare the above list with "do, defer, delegate, delete, or file" from -the Quickie overview chapter.) - -When you have time, you look into the "needs replying" folder, and reply -to one or more mails in there. After you've replied, you delete or archive -the original mail. - -With this change, you have a better handle on your e-mail. You know that -anything in the inbox is unknown and needs to be processed, and anything -in the "needs replying" folder needs some action, and that anything you -might need later is in the archival folder. No other mails require any -action, and any mails that do require action are easy to find. - -This will make you be much more relaxed about your e-mail. You never need -to worry whether you've replied to everything that needs replying. A further -benefit is that you're likely to reply to mail much faster than before. - -Work versus personal inboxes ----------------------------- - -It can be quite stressful to have to deal with work while you're -supposedly in your free time. Configuring your e-mail so that your -work mails are not visible on your own computer, or not visible -unless you're actually working, is quite a good idea. Keeping the -work and personal inboxes separate is a first step. - -If your work e-mail is not in your face all the time, it's easier -to ignore it, and that makes it easier to relax. - -Other kinds of inputs ------- - -The same processing principles work for all kinds of input, not just -e-mail. You should collect, whenever possible, all inputs in your -life into inboxes, which you regularly process until they're empty. -For each inbox item you decide whether to discard it, do the required -action immediately, do it later, delegate it to someone else, or -whether the item just needs to be filed. - -Hackers tend to mostly deal with digital inputs, but there's always -some physical ones as well. If nothing else, TPS reports and voicemails -about their -cover sheets. If you have more than a couple of inboxes, you may -need to keep a checklist of them. For physical inboxes, it is often -easiest to have as few as possible, but experiment with what works -for you. - -Your phone may also be an inbox. For example, text messages, voicemail, -notes you write on the phone, photos and videos you take, etc., are all -inbox fodder. - -When an input can't easily be put into an inbox, put a proxy there -instead. - -Inbox processing ----------------- - -Some inboxes you should empty frequently, several times a day. Some -can be done more rarely. For example, I usually process my -physical inbox once or twice a week, since any items that go into -it tend not to be urgent. - -When you've processed an item from the inbox, you need to remove it -from the inbox. This means you need to have a place to put it, even -if it is only the trash. We will cover filing systems and other related -tools later. - -Bug trackers: not really inboxes --------------------------------- - -Hackers tend to deal with bug trackers, ticketing systems, and similar -systems. These are not purely inboxes. They're also sort of project -lists, and next actions lists. I have found it most efficient to use -them as places to trawl for inbox material. It's not possible to -remove items from bug trackers just because you've decided what to do -with them. Instead, I review the list of open bugs, and see if there's -anything there that's new or that I need to deal with. If there is, I -add a proxy into my own inbox (or, sometimes, directly as a next action). -I might have a project in my GTD system for a particular bug. - -It's often the case that the total number of open bugs is so large -it's overwhelming. I have found only one way to deal with that: keep -dealing with subsets of the bugs that are most important, and try to -handle bugs at least as fast as they're reported. The rest of the -bugs may have to languish for a while, but if there's more of them -than you have time for, that's unavoidable. - -Inboxes a la Lars ------------------ - -Here are the inboxes I use: - -* physical inbox: letters and other mail, notes written on paper, etc. -* wallet: receipts, other bits and pieces that get collected during the day -* notebooks: notes made while out and about and phone/laptop wasn't available -* backpack: random stuff tends to get collected there -* phone text messages -* phone call log -* phone notebook: I use a note taking application on my smartphone as - a replacement for a notebook, when I can, because my handwriting font - is abysmally hard to read -* e-mail: this is two inboxes (personal vs work); I no longer have a separate - folder for each mailing list, everything goes into the same inbox -* feeds: blogs, news sites, etc. -* home directory for each computer I regularly use: tends to collect - random downloaded files, notes, etc. -* web browser bookmarks: I move any bookmarks I want to keep to - a link page on my website, the actual bookmarks are just a quick - way to save something for later -* all of my bug trackers: I develop software, each project has a bug - tracker, and those need to be reviewed; unfortunately, it is not always - possible to treat the bug tracker as a proper inbox as separate from an - archive -* inbox.mdwn: a plain text file (actually using markdown syntax), - an all-purpose digital inbox for ideas, notes, URLs, phone numbers, etc. -* all my ikiwiki instance's comment moderation queues -* unprocessed photos from camera phone, real cameras -* laundry that is drying or is dry: this sometimes gets delivered on my - desk by my partner, I then need to fold it and put it away; at other times - I realize it's dry fast enough to take it down from the clothesline first - -Information overload --------------------- - -Sometimes processing inputs in this more efficient manner is still not -enough. It may be that you're getting so much input that it's just -not possible to deal with all of it. In that case, you need to filter -away unwanted stuff automatically, or stop it from being sent to you -in the first place. - -- cgit v1.2.1