4 D’s of email management.
The "4Ds of Email Management" is a concept that has been widely adopted and promoted by productivity experts and professionals across various industries. It has emerged as a practical approach to managing email overwhelm
The goal of the 4D method is to increase our email productivity by keeping the inbox organized and tidy. Will look through each step so you can master this technique if it works for you
1. Delete It
Letting go of unwanted and not needed things is hard for many people.Knowing how to assess which email you need to delete will help you a lot in both email management and time management.
Start with a clean by deleting all the emails that you don’t need. If you’re like some people who leave their emails, unread or read, in their inbox until the counter can’t fit all the numbers, this will take some time. Try searching for a recipient that emails you often and deleting everything under that name. It’s great for getting rid of, say, daily LinkedIn notifications. Filtering your inbox like this though will make future searches much more efficient.
If you receive an email, and you read it, decide whether that information is something you’ll need. In case the answer is no, delete it right away. For example, a cold email that you don’t plan to answer shouldn’t take up space in your inbox.
Don’t let newsletter subscriptions that you no longer have interest in jam up your inbox. If you’re not reading it at least a few times a week, don’t kid yourself, and don’t beat yourself up about it. While 2000+ emails may seem harmless, irrelevant emails or expired information can distract you from important ones. Unsubscribe, and your mail will look organized.
2. Do It (Respond)
Now, this one demands some prioritizing and time management. Those are the skills that you will also enhance by using the 4D method.
Emails such as reminder emails, invitation emails, memo emails, or promotional emails should be read as soon as you notice them in your inbox. They can jump at the top of your priorities list because they don’t take much time. Simply send a reply, make an update, or make a quick phone call.
The principle that should guide you is:
If I can do it in under 2 minutes, I’ll do it right away. If I can’t, then the email can stay.
Additionally, when you receive an urgent email, it deserves your attention. Leaving it for later can cause some unpleasant situations such as forgetting about it or deleting it by accident.
Keep in mind that you shouldn’t consistently interrupt your work to open emails. Instead, go to your inbox only when you can spare a few minutes to check the inbox without pressure, or if you need it, schedule email times on your calendar and stick to it.
3. Delegate It (applies to organization or teams, work)
There’s not always a clear next step with every email. There will be situations when you can’t delete the email but you also can’t do the task at the moment. That’s why the third option is to delegate the email.
Consider if you can delegate that task to someone else. If there is a person on your team who can handle it (when you can’t), forward them the email (or, with Front, just assign it to them! Bada bing.)
As much as you wish to do everything by yourself, sometimes that’s not a possibility. Trust in your coworkers and team to do the job. By saving some time in that way, you will be able to focus on more relevant obligations and work that makes an impact.
The types of emails that can be delegated via the 4D method are the following:
Emails that consist of a simple task that anyone can do
Emails that someone else could handle better
Emails that request information that you’re unaware of
Emails that demand too much time (that you don’t have and someone else does)
4. Defer It
When you open an email and you find yourself in a situation such as…
It’s too important to delete it
It’s too demanding (time-wise and skill-wise) to do it
It’s only up to you to handle it so you can’t delegate it
You will come across emails that you won’t be able to resolve at that moment. It’s usually the case that the task demands too much time and you’re focused on a more urgent task. Accept that it is completely okay to leave a task for later.
However, to ensure that you won’t forget about it. Snoozing the mail for a time will be free .On the other hand, the reminder is there to give you a little push towards handling the deferred email.
Simply reading about the 4D method won’t make you an expert in email management. Your inbox could still have 20,000+ unread emails at this very moment. With the 4Ds, you have to practice it and be persistent. When 4Ds becomes a habit then you’ll start noticing yourself becoming an email management expert.
