This post, short and to the point, is excellent as a thought-provoker. I am currently struggling with finding ways to keep the noise level down, due the number of hats I wear and the large number of systems, and people, competing for my attention and time.
I am, simultaneously, running my own startup, doing freelancing development work for clients, and running the Infrastructure Consulting arm of another successful small company. That's all not to mention running my own personal sites and web projects. Each of these positions result in my getting a HUGE deluge of email, automated alerts, and spam - every single day.
I've tried a number of different methods for reducing noise, and none of them have worked very well for me yet. I tried setting up folder routing rules in Outlook - it resulted in my missing a couple of key alerts for client systems which resulted in very unhappy clients asking me, "Aren't you guys monitoring our systems..." when they had to call to let me know their critical systems were down.
I've tried scheduling set times during the day for email (and ignoring it outside of those times) and, while this has been my most successful method to date, it still just makes me dread the Email Hour in the morning and the other one in the Afternoon - resulting in my subconsciously finding excuses to skip "Email Hour"...
If any of my fellow HN'ers have suggestions in this regard, I'd love the feedback!
I am, simultaneously, running my own startup, doing freelancing development work for clients, and running the Infrastructure Consulting arm of another successful small company. That's all not to mention running my own personal sites and web projects. Each of these positions result in my getting a HUGE deluge of email, automated alerts, and spam - every single day.
I've tried a number of different methods for reducing noise, and none of them have worked very well for me yet. I tried setting up folder routing rules in Outlook - it resulted in my missing a couple of key alerts for client systems which resulted in very unhappy clients asking me, "Aren't you guys monitoring our systems..." when they had to call to let me know their critical systems were down.
I've tried scheduling set times during the day for email (and ignoring it outside of those times) and, while this has been my most successful method to date, it still just makes me dread the Email Hour in the morning and the other one in the Afternoon - resulting in my subconsciously finding excuses to skip "Email Hour"...
If any of my fellow HN'ers have suggestions in this regard, I'd love the feedback!