HBR 20-Minute Manager Boxed Set (10 Books) (HBR 20-Minute Manager Series)

Getting Work Done

60

comes in. Instead, schedule time every two

to three hours to review your e-mails. If that

doesn’t seem frequent enough, review your in-

box every hour on the hour. If you need to, put

a note in your e-mail signature telling those you

correspond with what times you check e-mail

and to call you if something urgent arises.

• Give it two minutes. Once you are looking at

your inbox, if you can answer an e-mail in two

minutes, do it. Don’t fi le it, don’t leave it in your

inbox to review later, but respond right away. If

it requires more than two minutes, schedule a

time to reply to it and add it to your to-do list.

• Rethink “Reply all.” If you’re stuck in an e-mail

chain with 10 coworkers, consider whether

e-mail is the most ...