Dealing with the Pile of Email

As so often happens, when I got back from vacation I had a pile of email clogging my inbox. I thought that it would be a good idea to share some advice on how to deal with this backlog that is inevitably waiting for us when we return to work. I have become a master of dealing with such situations. Are you ready for this sage advice? Can you handle it? Here you go:

Throw it all out without reading it.

What? I can't be serious can I? I'm deadly serious.

It works because it functions under one important principle: If something is REALLY important, somebody else has kept a copy of it. I learned this lesson from one of the first bosses that I worked for who would routinely throw things out without reading them. When I asked him why did this, he explained: "If it's really important, it will show back up on my desk." . People keep copies of important documents/emails. Don't be a pack rat; let somebody else be a pack rat.

Is this a perfect system? No. It typically fails when you have a boss that likes to make unilateral decisions without your input. You know, when somebody sends out an email (copying you) asking your boss to make a decision on something where they SHOULD wait for your input, but choose not to do so.

So - as with many systems - it's only perfect in a perfect world . . . and we all know that the world isn't perfect. So use the advice at your own risk. Personally, I have my email setup so that my VIP's show up highlighted when the come to my inbox and truthfully, I read the VIP email and then toss the rest.

Hopefully this advice lightens your workload at least a little, or at least helps you cope with the fear of returning from vacation.

First Impressions - What Are They Worth?

We recently hired a new Business Analyst to work on the SAP project with us. I met her on Wednesday at 4pm. On Thursday, she spent the day reading through a bunch of the documentation and was not overly conversant. So far I've been able to glean that she has dogs, does not have children, has an hour commute, and just got off an assignment in London.

So Thursday evening, the HR Director that hired her asked me this: "What do you think of her?"

My response: "She seems amiable enough."

I just don't know enough about her yet to know if she's a good addition to the team. I won't know that until she starts working on project tasks and getting stuff done. I'm not sure if the HR Director was looking for validation, conversation, or valid feedback regarding this person he just hired. You can probably tell by my response, he didn't get much of anything.

I've been in situations like this from a different perspective as well. Before the holidays, somebody asked me of my impression of a person he'd just met. I've known this person for a few years. My opinion wasn't that favorable, but I didn't say much. He seemed to think highly of this person, based on his first impression. I figured, "Why ruin an impression, he'll figure it out himself." So I nodded and smiled my way through the conversation.

So before I go rambling on with more examples, I guess I'll get to the point: Spend the time to form the correct opinion of a person. First impressions - though powerful - are often misleading. More importantly, form your own impression of a person, don't borrow other people's opinions.

Ever have a first impression blown away after you got to know a person? Let's hear it!