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Noted my colleagues @DrTMDune @DoktorGen raising the ongoing issue for academics of EMAIL
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="đ" title="EnttĂ€uschtes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: EnttĂ€uschtes Gesicht">: I manage my inbox extremely well, even after periods of leave (routinely take 3-4 weeks off in December), and typically have <5 & #39;active& #39; emails in my inbox, so here& #39;s what works for me
1. delete liberally-you don& #39;t need to read every policy/research/teaching/digital learning update, when you need to know, ask for help, & you& #39;ll get the right directions
2. get the little admin things done NOW so they don& #39;t grow into something bigger: if admin ask for an exam request do it now, takes 30s: if someone wants an online form get it done, don& #39;t let the little things add up in your mind and clutter your box: 30s now saves worry and time
3. don& #39;t reply to every undergraduate student: my units have >150 students, not the biggest, but no way I& #39;m engaging everyone, get the tone of the issue and do unit announcements over vUWS
4. pre-empt the issues to avoid the emails: clear learning guide advice, weekly housekeeping on where student progress should be at, weekly mass feedback. policy on NO electronic feedback on assignments pre-hand in (meetings only, better for tone), CONT
email isn& #39;t for students to have a heart to heart with you, and shouldn& #39;t be a place with large complaints (means you aren& #39;t doing the rest of 4), or a place of SPAM student email-warn them, block them for abuse of email
5. Email is a postcard (as I was taught in 96, 1st year Uni), use Zoom or Phone for anything substantial, offer Zoom/Phone too to deter longform emails to you
6. Stop subscribing to every journal, esp the ones that SPAM you lots - c& #39;mon, you aren& #39;t reading all the articles anyway, you& #39;ll go find them when you need to go searching, just pick a few good journals that will give cross-reference coverage and away you go
7. JUNK email is your friend, and yes, you can and should use it for excessive Uni content that really doesn& #39;t do anything for you (e.g. Yammer is cute and all, but its an inbox distraction and hasn& #39;t proven useful)
8. I know somewhere they say "don& #39;t do it", but use sub-folders - check email if it survives the above, and put it somewhere that makes sense (e.g. I have unit folders where AIPs go, read when needed, I have a & #39;grants& #39; folder, & #39;journal correspondence& #39;, and individual folders for
my grad students), also have a general ADMIN folder where relevant school emails go (template emails and things like that I will need to grab at some point)
9. I have a & #39;reviews to do& #39; folder, which has reviewer requests, article reviews, HDR examinations
10. I get the & #39;delete it, they& #39;ll get back to you& #39; thing, but I prefer the idea that you don& #39;t have to engage with everything, you don& #39;t have to know everything, just chill and ask for help when needed
11. The Dreaded Annual Leave Return: always sucks, but if you apply the above it becomes easier-key on return is don& #39;t book new tasks that week, put everything off till you& #39;re ready to go
12. Here& #39;s a controversial few: I manage my inbox regularly, applying the delete/priority approaches above, clearing at 9pm,11pm everynight AND ON LEAVE TOO I don& #39;t & #39;engage& #39;, just delete and clear
13. Learn to type faster, and more accurately: I don& #39;t know how much time it saves me, but typing 110wpm helps ALOT
14. Be open with colleagues about how you like to communicate-you can waste so much time worrying about email tone, talk EARLY with collaborators and establish a conversational tone, so they don& #39;t worry, and you don& #39;t worry either: EMAIL SUCKS when people start to read & #39;tone& #39;
get a clean simple email culture going ASAP and encourage quick open thoughts: I had great feedback from a collaborator in SoM/THRI recently "I don& #39;t have to worry when I hit the SEND button to you"
That& #39;s a WIN for both of us, and a time saver!https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="đ" title="Grinsendes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Grinsendes Gesicht">
That& #39;s a WIN for both of us, and a time saver!
That& #39;s what works for me, it may not work for you, and while email is a battle, I keep it a well-managed process so it doesn& #39;t take away from what matters (good engagement with students, productive research, good collaboration)
Hope that helps someone
Kind regards,
Paulhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="đ" title="Zwinkerndes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Zwinkerndes Gesicht">
Hope that helps someone
Kind regards,
Paul
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