Is email a major bummer in your day? Do you feel like they (or you) should have "gotten it" by now? You are not alone. The Morale and Tech committees join forces to help you become a kinder, gentler email sender and receiver. Please join us as we lead a group therapy session on email and how to make it work for, not against, you.

1. Building a Healthy Relationship,
with your E-mail
Tech Committee V. Morale Committee: Dawn of Justice.

2. “The first step to solving a problem, is
recognizing there is one.”
 -Abe Lincoln, maybe, but probably not. I don’t know, I’m not great with history.

3. Let's talk about our own problems first
(personal, not organizational)
 What are the symptoms?

4. I can’t deal with my the amount of email I get; I
fall behind on my email; things fall between the
cracks.
Employ a system to help you like Inbox Zero or Getting Things Done.
 Do not use your inbox as a todo list!
 For every email, decide to: delete, delegate, respond, defer and do.
 Don't leave the email client open.
 Process email periodically throughout the day, perhaps at the top of each hour.
 First delete or archive as many new messages as possible.
 Then forward what can be best answered by someone else.
 Immediately respond to any new messages that can be answered in two minutes or less.
 Move new messages that require more than two minutes to answer -- and messages that can be answered later -- to a separate
"requires response" folder.
 Set aside time each day to respond to email in the "requires response" folder or chip away at mail in this folder throughout the day.
 http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/inbox-zero

5. Email is a distraction
 Turn off email or at least turn off email notifications. Deal with email during set
times.

6. I can’t turn off email, my boss needs to reach me
Are you sure?
 Yes.
OK
 Keep email on but no notifications. Then set a “rule” that your boss’s email will
notify you.
 http://www.howtogeek.com/239131/how-to-get-outlook-notifications-for-
important-emails-only/

7. I get too much spam/junk/useless email.
Try using tools to help you out:
 Clutter (new outlook tool https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Use-Clutter-to-
sort-low-priority-messages-in-Outlook-7b50c5db-7704-4e55-8a1b-dfc7bf1eafa0)
 https://unroll.me/
 Change basecamp/teamwork messages to “digest”
 Use filters to batch less important emails into a folder to be dealt with you later.

8. Emails ruin my weekend/vacation
Don’t look at your email on the weekend. You deserve to enjoy
your weekend. Be kind to yourself.

9. Organizational Problems (What do we do
poorly)
Symptoms:

10. There is too much noise.
 Do I need to send this email? (Am I just piling on)
 Do I need to reply all? (Am I saying something to everyone that should only go to
one person).

11. This email thread is 439 emails long
 Perhaps this email should have a been a conversation or online chat (skype).

12. Emailing a Word Document around and using
track changes is a nightmare.
 Yes it is. Rather than pass a document around, perhaps you should have one
version of the document in a central place, and then invite your collaborators to
edit it.
 https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Collaborate-on-Word-documents-with-
real-time-co-authoring-7dd3040c-3f30-4fdd-bab0-8586492a1f1d

13. People are aggressive in emails. There are fights
on my team.
 Am I “angry emailing”? Should I cool off first and reread/rewrite this email.

14. Schedule meetings sucks
 If you often schedule meetings with the same people (your team) perhaps you
should be using Outlook’s shared calendar.
 Use reasonable Doodle polls. I’m not sure 40 choices is very helpful.
 Schedule the next meeting at the end of the current meetings.

15. Those aren’t even words.
 E-mailing from mobile devices can cause typos; maybe take a second to check if
what you wrote actually makes the slightest sense, before you hit send.