“I believe the answer is no. In many ways, email is more database than communications tool, a repository of unstructured content that you can add to at will simply be sending me an email. If content is unwanted and unusable, such as spam, obviously it should be discarded. However, we all receive content in email that might not need a response right away, or that might be more useful when aggregated with other content.”

I agree with Michael. Until a few years ago, I used to organize all incoming messages into folders by subject matter and delete the Spam and superfluous mails with the goal of having an empty inbox at the end of the day. In essence, I was using my inbox as a to-do list. This system became too difficult to manage after a while. I fell behind, messages got mis-categorized and I could not find older emails quick enough.

I then discovered the “Google approach” to email – keeping a flat inbox - using search, sort, flagging and tagging. While I personally don’t view Gmail as a viable option for my daily email needs yet, traditional email clients such as Lotus Notes and MS-Outlook already have all the built-in capabilities to make this approach very effective.

Here is how it works:

Searching – Keeping all messages in one place saves you from searching multiple folders. Both Notes and Outlook provide the capabilities to setup virtual search folders, which are in essence stored search queries.

Sorting – When reviewing a message, a simple sort by sender gives instant access to all emails previously received from that sender. Sorting by subject shows the entire message thread.

Flagging – Setting different priority flags on specific messages allows you to turn the emails into a prioritized to-do list. It also helps in highlighting the importance of certain messages so they don’t get overlooked or forgotten.

Tagging – Probably the most powerful and underutilized feature in email. Rather than organizing messages in folders, try using category or subject tags. While an email can only be stored in a single physical folder, it can be tagged with many keywords. Tagging combined with virtual search folders is a very productive way to organize messages.

There are still some exceptions when it might make sense to use folders to organize emails. Examples are personal emails or mailing lists subscriptions.

Overall, this approach works very well for me, removing any anxiety over having a full inbox. Now off to battling that unread message count…

Technorati Tags: full inbox, email best practices, MS-Outlook, Lotus Notes, email tagging, search folders, Osterman Research

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This feature was first mentioned last summer with the pre-announcement of Sametime 7.5 amongst a slew of many other important enhancements to the product, including the gateway to public IM networks.

Perhaps one of the reasons that I may have missed this before is the fact that the integration option is not part of the default installer. You must actually read the release notes to find the specific installation instructions. Why IBM chose to exclude this feature from the standard installer is a mystery to me.

Once installed, Sametime offers integration with Word, Excel and the likes through Smart Tags. User can easily initiate chats within a document or spreadsheet if a name matches a corresponding Sametime user. What’s even more interesting though is the inclusion of a Sametime toolbar within Outlook. The toolbar integrates presence and instant chat capabilities right into email, contacts and calendaring.

Why do I think that this is a big deal? For one, MS-Office is ubiquitous in the enterprise and integrating Sametime is simply a requirement to effectively compete against Microsoft’s own LCS. Secondly, many companies are running Notes/Domino and Exchange/Outlook side by side. The integration with Outlook enables them to stay with one IM solution as users share the presence and awareness capabilities across both email clients. Lastly, Sametime is currently the most robust and complete enterprise IM and collaboration platform on the market. The wealth of new features that IBM managed to add into the 7.5.x releases helps in maintaining this leadership position.

Technorati Tags: Sametime, Lotus Notes, Outlook, Ms-Office

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As Stuart points out:

“Of course there have been many attempted solutions to this, from formal document management or content management products at the high-end through to document libraries or fileshares at the low end, companies have tried really hard to deal with this issue. However, for many, the stumbing block has always been how to make the solution intuitive and easy to use for users in the context of their daily tasks.”

The Quickr / Notes connector will automatically prompt users to post the email attachment to a Quickr place while simply sending a link in the actual email. It is worth mentioning that Microsoft Outlook offers a similar feature for posting email attachments to SharePoint document workspace sites. This seemingly simple integration is the key to user adoption of these collaborative solutions.

Both IT and users win as storage demands for email will slow and users gain access to the features of a real document sharing system.

However, don’t forget that Quickr and SharePoint will require pro-active monitoring and management as well, as users can more easily create ad-hoc document sharing places. Usage monitoring combined with a sound document retention and archiving policy should be put in place right away to avoid the cost and headaches of a “clean-up” project later on.

Technorati Tags: quickr, quickplace, outlook, sharepoint, lotus, notes, email attachments

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