{"id":26385,"date":"2014-06-16T05:00:20","date_gmt":"2014-06-16T10:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/?p=26385"},"modified":"2014-06-16T05:00:20","modified_gmt":"2014-06-16T10:00:20","slug":"cut-email-by-83-percent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/cut-email-by-83-percent\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Cut My Email Load by 83% in Less Than a Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lousy communications is one of the biggest challenges any team faces. I can\u2019t tell you how many times I\u2019ve lost files, even whole conversation threads, in email. And no one likes triaging an inbox, even with a good system. So what if we had a better solution?<\/p>\n\n

We do, thanks to a team of online video game developers.<\/p>\n

After pulling the plug on an unsuccessful multiplayer game, the developers at Tiny Speck<\/a> Inc.\u2014now called Slack<\/a>\u2014turned their attention to fixing the communications problems that undermined their own efforts. And I\u2019m glad they did.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an Email Jungle Out There<\/h3>\n

We all know that email is out-of-control. I have a public email address and a private one, and even the private account has been getting unwieldy.<\/p>\n

When I dug deeper into the problem recently, I discovered 83 percent of my messages were related to team communications. I don\u2019t know about you, but I love email for what it does well\u2014it\u2019s just that team communication isn\u2019t one of those things.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all felt the frustration of trying to keep up with complicated, disorganized email conversations\u2014or the panic of lost files. We\u2019ve all tried unsuccessfully using our inbox as a staging ground, workspace, to-do list, and so on.<\/p>\n

Worse, as email gets crazier on us, we try other solutions to cope\u2014instant messaging, chatrooms, project management apps\u2014which have benefits of their own but which also fragment our discussions and workflow even further. Pretty soon it\u2019s all like some overgrown tangle of weeds.<\/p>\n

What to do? My friend Pat Flynn<\/a> had the answer.<\/p>\n

Slack to the Rescue<\/h3>\n

Pat suggested we try Slack<\/a>, a communications and workflow app he\u2019s been using for a few months now.<\/p>\n

The concept is simple. It folds together all the functionality of email, instant messaging, file sharing, and more into one system that\u2019s actually fun to use.<\/p>\n

Instead of team communication about your projects and initiatives mixed up with random messages from friends, unrelated requests from clients, and funny cat memes from your aunt, you can keep it all separate. Even better, it\u2019s highly searchable and fully integrated with your mobile devices.<\/p>\n

You can set up conversations (\u201cchannels\u201d) around certain projects or interests and keep all relevant parties on the team updated, swap and store files, even message team members individually as needed.<\/p>\n

Think of it this way: Email is like a phone call to someone in another building. Slack<\/a> is like a conversation with someone in the same room. The first is great for folks outside your team, but the other is ideal for the collaborative communication teams need to succeed\u2014especially if everyone is working remotely.<\/p>\n

My Experience So Far<\/h3>\n

I got my team on board immediately after checking it out. I sent an email saying I wouldn\u2019t respond to emails or texts. If they wanted to reach me, I\u2019d be on Slack<\/a>. I also sent instructions for joining.<\/p>\n

Some members were resistant, but it wasn\u2019t long before we were all using it. One told me afterward that if you know how to send a Tweet or a text message, you can be up and running in a few minutes.<\/p>\n

The result is that my incoming email is now less than 20 percent what it was, and the communication with my team has improved dramatically.<\/p>\n

Right now we have ten team members involved in sixteen different channels. The setup was nearly instant and the structure came organically. We have channels for initiatives like webinars and my writing projects, for calendar and event coordination, and even for sharing cute pictures of our kids.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve only been using Slack<\/a> a little while, but the result is a virtual environment that feels like a large, open office with conversations churning on all the stuff that matters most. So far, it\u2019s even been fun.<\/p>\n

Five Tips to Get Started<\/h3>\n

If you want to quickly improve team communication and workflow, Slack<\/a> is the ticket. Whether your team is already working in an office, or everyone\u2019s virtual, here are five tips to get you started fast and effectively.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Keep it direct<\/strong>. Have your team use their first name as their username, unless you have multiple folks with the same first name. The idea is to have a one-name identifier. They can add their full names to their profiles, along with their photos.<\/li>\n
  2. Keep it tight<\/strong>. Only invite people you interact with on a frequent basis\u2014usually this means your staff, direct reports, or key clients. Email or texting is fine for people outside this circle, but to maximize functionality and efficiency, keep the Slack<\/a> team tight.<\/li>\n
  3. Keep it focused<\/strong>. Only set up necessary channels. Use the default \u201cGeneral” until you start seeing a line of messages that should be segregated. Channels can be areas of focus\u2014like administration, calendar, etc.\u2014or specific projects, events, conferences.\n
  4. Keep it central<\/strong>. Start pulling all the relevant conversations, files, action plans, and decisions into Slack<\/a>. It\u2019s all searchable so if you start using it almost exclusively, you\u2019ll have access to most of the key elements of your business within a few clicks and taps.<\/li>\n
  5. Keep it everywhere<\/strong>. Download Slack to all your devices from the App Store or Google Play<\/a>. You can use Slack via the browser interface if you want, but I prefer the Mac desktop app<\/a>. (If you use Windows, you'll have to use a browser. There is not a dedicated Windows app.) I also use the iOS app<\/a> on my iPhone and iPad. Everything stays instantly synched between all my devices.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    My team and I have nowhere near tapped what\u2019s possible with Slack<\/a>. It can, for instance, integrate with all sorts of commonly used services like Twitter, DropBox, and Stripe. You can even use it with services like IFTTT or Zapier to forward emails to it or ingest RSS feeds. We're just getting started with this.<\/p>\n

    Like I said at the beginning, email still has its uses\u2014and for some of them email is the best solution. But based on my experience so far, the best way to simultaneously manage your inbox and improve team communication is to save email for outside communication and use Slack<\/a> for everything in house.<\/p>\n

    What's the most frustrating communications or workflow problem you and your team face?<\/div>\n

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    Lousy communications is one of the biggest challenges any team faces. I can\u2019t tell you how many times I\u2019ve lost files, even whole conversation threads, in email. And no one likes triaging an inbox, even with a good system. So what if we had a better solution? We do, thanks to a team of online […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":26393,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[402,90,517,42,1072],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow I Cut the Amount of Email I Receive by 83% in Less Than a Week<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Email is suboptimal for team communication and workflow. 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