Work Your Inbox

Posted by Mike on April 23, 2008

Follow this link to a good article on dealing with your inbox. (Examples here are in Microsoft Outlook.)

Too often, our work is managed by our inbox. The inbox is simply an input to our work. It is better to work your inbox and decide what to do with each item. Follow the steps and adapt it to what works for you

I modified the “Trusted Trio” and added CC Mail (which I automatically route emails to) and Reading.

I also added the Delete button to the keyboard shorcut toolbar.

I am experimenting with different reading pane views to see what works best for me.

Best Kind of Status

Posted by Mike on April 11, 2008

For years now, PowerPoint has firmly established itself as the “best” way to status a group of people about a project. Is it effective? By effective, I mean, does it communicate well and encourage discussion?

I think that, to some degree, PowerPoint presentations invoke what I call the TV syndrome. The people in your meeting sag into couch potato mode and become passive in the meeting. Imagine an hour or more filled with someone reading 58 PowerPoint slides!

Wouldn’t it be better to go with a one-page status on 11 x 17 paper, as suggested in The Toyota Way? With this approach, the essential details are available to all, on paper. Discussion can then be centered around the most important items, looking to not only problem solve, but also to set and keep direction, and to give recognition to people and their achievements.

I think that it is worth trying.

4/18/08 – EDIT:

The 11×17 status report is better known as the A3 report in The Toyota Way.

Click here to see an example.