Further thoughts on input tiers

Note: this was a private exercise I did, but I thought I’d post the results in case it’s of use to anyone else in clarifing their thoughts on how to handle their daily influx.

Previously: Email: Still not perfect. Also related: Don’t React. I noodled on this a bit more, and the following is what I came up with. It isn’t really specific to email, although most of the input mentioned comes to me in the form of email.

• Time-sensitive: Discussions where time is of the essence.
  • E.g. short-notice discussions of where we’re going to meet for lunch, or how to get connected for a Skype conversation.
  • These are the only types of email I should ever get push notifications for.
  • With rare exceptions, nothing can be auto-categorized as time-sensitive. It’s a status that should only be conferred by my explicitly tagging the conversation as such.
  • Exceptions: Automatically time-sensitive items might include:
    • flight-change notifications. (But I already get app notifications for these)
    • IMs from my wife.
  • High-stress/high mental cost.
  • Should be seen the moment they arrive.
• Attention Required: Something bad might happen if I don’t see and potentially take action on this.
  • Examples:
    • Replies to emails I sent.
    • An invitation to an event I care about.
    • An email in a group that I’m committed to actively supporting. (E.g. my company, or a conference I’m helping organize)
    • A calendar invite from my wife.
    • A backup-failed notification.
    • A bill that won’t be auto-paid.
    • An upcoming charge I might want to cancel.
    • DMs on Facebook or Twitter
    • Business-related replies/mentions on Twitter
    • Customer support requests.
    • Requests for consulting services.
  • Should be seen once or twice a day.
  • High-stress, but often can be punted directly into a TODO item, or delegated.
• Correspondence: personal conversations.
  • Technically, these are discretionary. But having these conversations is innately valuable to me, and missing out on them has negative value.
  • Examples:
    • Emails from friends.
    • Replies to my newsletter.
    • Requests for professional advice or referrals.
    • Most Facebook tags and private messages.
  • Should be seen once a day, but can miss a day or two.
  • May require significant time and mental energy to handle. Probably need their own dedicated chunk of the day.
• Discretionary: May be a personal message, but nothing terrible will happen if I never see/respond.
  • Examples:
    • Non-business replies/mentions on Twitter
    • Replies and mentions on Facebook.
    • Meetup invites
  • Can be seen 2-4 times a week.
• Informational: Stuff I read only when I feel like it.
  • Examples:
    • Newsletters
    • Posts to technical forums I’m subscribed to
    • Posts to blogs that I follow
    • Promotional Emails
    • Twitter feeds of people I’m following.
    • Facebook feeds of close friends and family.
  • Seen whenever I feel like, which can be never.
• Deferred: Usually stuff from the “informational” category that I’ve set aside for later.
  • Long blog posts, news articles, conference videos.
  • Right now this mostly goes into Pocket.
  • I need a better way of culling this crap so it doesn’t just accumulate forever.
• Everything else by definition needs to be eliminated.
  • I’m most of the way there already.
  • Some non-obvious members of this category include:
    • Facebook/Twitter “likes”. Seriously, I do not need to know.
    • Assorted app notifications on my phone.

• I want, nay, need to be able to open each of these categories separately and intentionally, without cross-pollution. Seeing my Discretionary input should not accidentally expose me to Attention-Required stuff, and vice-versa. Most email clients and other tools are bad at this.
• I need to work harder on making sure everything that comes in is well categorized as early as possible. This might include:
  • Better mail filters.
  • Delegating more of the front line to someone else for initial categorization.
  • Dealing with Twitter entirely through a customer-service platform? Or something.
  • Putting a categorization field on my contact forms, e.g.:
    • Just saying Hi
    • Request for advice or referral
    • Request for consulting/speaking/teaching
    • Reporting a problem/complaint
• Interestingly, after all this thought I’m not seeing a business/personal split emerging. It’s really more about frequency and amount of attention required than which realm of my life it comes from.
• Can GMail notify me only about new messages in conversations tagged  “Time-Sensitive”? Must investigate.