E-Mail

Yesterday, I wrote about why I don’t like MS Teams. My frustration about this Microsoft product (or perhaps better, platform*) could have been directed at most other commercial platforms. Common to all is the attempt to lock users into a software ecosystem that they cannot easily escape without losing their information. But what is the option? Over the years, I have developed my own workflows, including practical strategies for handling files and folders. That will have to wait for another post. Here, I will focus on two old-school communication platforms that are still going strong: SMS and e-mail. ...

I have for some time tried to put my phone in silent mode and turn off my e-mail program before lunch. I am most productive in the mornings, and being able to work 3-4 hours without any interruptions, is very valuable. My solution to the problem of minor (and larger) interruptions has come out of a need of getting more concentrated time to focus on working in the lab, programming, writing papers, etc. It is very difficult to keep focus when new e-mails are popping up all the time. One thing is the interruption time, another thing is the recovery time. In the paper Understanding Email Interaction Increases Organizational Productivity, Jackson et al. show that the recovery time after an e-mail interruption is a little more than a minute, on average. This is based on detailed analyses of a group of people over several working days. They conclude: ...