It’s good to delete email, but it’s even better to make the *other* guy delete the email

How do you do this? By offering a simple reply followed by immediate deletion. This puts an email in somebody else’s inbox, which—if you’ve done your job right—gets deleted immediately.

For example, if someone sends you confirmation details for a meeting request, REPLY to confirm that you will or will not be there. If someone sends you a piece of relevant information, record that in the appropriate system and REPLY to say you received it. If someone copies you on a conversation that doesn’t involve you, REPLY to let them know that you’re not actually connected to that project. Then delete the message!

By putting the onus of email deletion onto someone else, you place the finality of the conversation in their hands. This encourages senders to be more precise in their messages, because they will learn that you will ALWAYS reply to messages that have any loose ends or could be reasonably confirmed. It also inspires everyone to add the text “no need to reply” to outgoing messages.

Replying, then deleting reinforces your memory of the conversation more than just deletion. We’ve all gone on a deleting spree and then had to hunt through the trash for a missing message. If someone asks you “did you get that message,” you’re more likely to remember if you wrote a one sentence reply. And of course, people are much less likely to ask that question if you did reply!

Replying also moves all conversations to one master archive: The Sent Items folder. Now, anything you’ve ever talked about with someone is saved there. If someone sends you a crucial password and you are away from your own computer, you can log into your Sent Items folder from practically anywhere in the world to search for this information.

More on email from my personal blog at Messengers of Productivity, or on productivity at our corporate site Slaughter Development

@robbyslaughter