Using artificial intelligences (AI) to get the job done

Looking at your job description and your objectives, probably writing, and processing email and socials are not on it. How come that we are spending over 50% of our working time on email and socials? Some six years ago, being overwhelmed by email and creating negative energy around processing email, I decided to “do email” differently.

In this blog post, I explain the result of my years on the journey “on doing email” for inspiration only. Containing some links to downloadable Shortcuts and Keyboard Maestro macros. A lot has already been written on the subject of the email. I am not pretending to have found “the holy grail” on email processing; however, it works for me.

This post will cover the following topics:

• The email and message challenge – the problem
• How artificial intelligence comes to the rescue – the help
• How I manage the email – the flow
• How to set up this device-independent – the setup
• Guideline for using email in organisation – for inspiration

The email and message challenge

Agree upon guidelines for email

At the organisations I led, I was always surprised that, if spending 50%+ of the working/ human capital on e-mail processing, there were no guidelines or even (onboarding) trainings/ competence development initiatives on how to deal with email. For inspiration I have attached to this blog post, a concept guideline for:

1. Tips when to e-mail or when not to e-mail
2. How do you compose the correct e-mail?
3. What is the best way to read e-mail?
4. Other points for attention.

You can find this guideline here.

Intention matters

The intention behind sending an email can say something about your organization of how effectively your organization works together to pursue a common goal. Let me explain further. The problem is that email is boundless. I receive email from:

• colleagues with good intentions
• some colleagues who are “covering their ass” (informing me so they can transfer accountability when “shit hits the fan” by saying “I have informed you”)
• colleagues who are trying to delegate “stuff” which is their own job/ responsibility (give me a problem)
• and a lot of it comes from robots or people who “don’t give a damn” about your precious time and your energy levels.

💡 Tip: look at your mail from a tactical point of view at first. What is the intention behind sending this email? That will determine your answer and “tone of voice.” I even tag email so I can assess the Health of my organization.

Let email not determine your time spend

Every email (good-intentioned or not) creates its sense of urgency that will seem more important than doing your job, as agreed upon in your job description or delivering your objectives, or even spending quality time with yourself and your family.

💡Tip: Do not let email consume your precious time too much. Plan in your schedule/ calendar time for processing email, according to your needs (f.e. two times 45 minutes). The other time is for doing your job.

Determine if email is the right way to communicate

The more you engage in email, the more email engages you. Every email could result in many more emails on the same topic in the coming days. I prefer to have personal contact (Phone, Zoom/ MS Teams, personal “face to face” conversation), 70% of communication is non-verbal, which you miss in email.

💡Tip: send and reply on email in such a way that there are no open endings and communications/ debate “stops here”. Do use a “standard” structure of composing and answering mail. Do not discuss topics by email: it could take weeks of lead time to finish the discussion, pick up the phone or do a short zoom meeting, and you are done with the debate in a couple of minutes. (and personal contact creates more energy/ fun.)

Email inbox is not your Inbox on “stuff to do”

If you were going back to the time when we were using post pigeons or the mail post for getting the message over, there is a pretty simple workflow involved with handling paper mail:

• Get it out of your post mailbox.
• Fetch the paper and sort through it, and throw some of it away
• You read some, and you may even scan some and keep it for later
• Act on it (pay bills, reply on or even go to the store to buy the discounted items)

The one thing you are not going to do is walk out to your mailbox, look through your mail, and then stuff it all back in your mailbox. However, I did this some years ago with email, which I need to take action on (using it as an Inbox to-do list). The next time we go back to our email clients, we see the same emails we ignored last time, plus a whole new pile of mail dropped there, while we were away. We are using our energy and brains again to read again and determine again what to do with the email, like yesterday. At some point, it makes you crazy and feeling overwhelmed. 

Furthermore, all email clients are designed for processing and holding email and have a business model to “keep you engaged” with this, especially Google. A communication tool is differently designed than a task management tool.

💡 Tip: process/ answer mail immediately. If the time of processing is over 3 minutes and it can wait a little while, put it on your to-do list in your task manager of choice.

In my work currently, I receive on average 173 mails per day (weekends included). I handle 6-7 email accounts (work, businesses I own, assignments, and privately). I had to switch off notifications on all my devices and needed some Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help me handling these amounts of emails.

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How Artificial Intelligence (AI) comes to the rescue

There is already a lot written about AI. For reference behind my email setup, I will mention one concept I am using. The concept of AI in relation to email processing, different levels of AI:

Decision trees are in your head. F.e. I receive an email from my boss and I want to respond quickly so I put a flag on it. Or an email looks like spam, so I move it to the spam folder. This way of working is the most simple way of working and works fine with “low” email counts. What is low depends who you are as person (energy and brain capacity).

Static machine learning, the decision making is still in your head but the email client is helping you determine what to do and in which order. Mostly you see the use of mail rules like “if mail subject contains “invoice” move mail to folder “Invoice processing” and remains “Unread”. Next time an email comes in that you would be expected to be picked up by the rule but did not, you add a new rule or adjust the current rule”. This way of working is advanced already and working okay if you have a consistent email inbound (same senders, use of standard subjects and not too many mail category comes “from robots or people who “don’t give a damn.” about your time and your energy levels“. Rules are not available on iOS or iPadOS mail clients. If you need to change mail rules often, it is time for the next step in AI.

Neural networks could sound creepy and or nerdy however it is already existing and working for me. I use Sanebox for all of my six mail accounts and it is preprocessing my email. SaneBox restores sanity to my Inbox by prioritizing the incoming email that actually matters and is relevant to my day based on super-smart algorithms. Less important emails are automatically filtered into a separate folder and then summarised in a daily digest. You can also create customs folders which you can train while f.e. moving mail to that trainable email folder (without creating rules).

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How I manage email – the flow

Organisation of mailboxes

Every mail box has a “standard” setup, as following:

One (smart mailbox) over all 6 mail accounts

Because Sanebox is working on a server (email remains on your company servers) the initial processing takes place for all your devices, in my case Mac, iPad and iPhone but if you use other equipment it works the same. On the Mac I am using Smart folders to collect all six similar folders into one folder. This looks like below:

The Routine is simple:

• I start on top of the list “☑ Prepare for flight” and I am processing all email which does not have a Project and or Tag attached. Mostly because I processed some mail on my iPhone or iPad.
• I am prepared to take off and I will at first process all the Inbox email items for the persons I have indicated as VIP
• In the smart view “🛫 Take off” I find all “remaining” inbox items. The AI determined that these need immediate attention (and is pretty accurate doing so). I answer immediately or if more than 3 minutes time, I transfer it to my task manager, in my case OmniFocus with a simple keyboard shortcut.
• In the folder “✈️ In flight – ☕️ Waiting for” I can find all my emails which I have sent and did not receive a reply on.
  • How do I know if I am awaiting a reply? Copies of the sent email appear in this folder, in my case 3 days after sending, until I receive a reply from each To recipient. You can choose how many days you want to wait.
  • Please don’t put emails in this folder. SaneBox will remove any email that is accidentally added to this folder.
  • What if I don’t expect a reply? Simply remove the email from this folder. Or, I can add “NNTR” (no need to reply), “NRN” (no reply necessary), or “FYI” to your subject, and SaneBox will ignore that sent email.
• Etc…

I do this a couple of times per day, and is planned in my agenda. Max 45 minutes.

Archiving

At first, I was archiving all emails in one folder: the Archive folder. The search functions of the email clients are so good that I can find everything back. So why bother to build a subfolder structure? However, I was missing the possibility to analyze what I did communicate on a Project (=goal) or not. (or could not remember exactly what to search for in 210k+ email Archive).

In my Weekly debrief, I check if I have recent communications done on projects/ goals. Is the project/ goals realisation still moving forward?

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How to set up this device-independent

I will explain in this paragraph how to set this up. First I will list the tools used, show you my email preferences, and how to setup SaneBox and MailSuite. Sanebox is a device in-depended and can work with many email clients. MailSuit is only available for the Mac Mail app as an add-in.

The tools I use

Email client of choice

• On the Mac, I use the native Mail app but you can achieve the same in Outlook, Spark, or Airmail (without Projects.)
• On the iPad, as well as the iPhone I use also the native Mail app. However, I was able to copy the setup to Outlook app Sparks app and to the Airmail app also (again without Project functionality).

Using Artificial Intelligence tooling

• I use Sanebox for AI purposes. Sanebox’s AI will analyze my email history and learn what is important to me. I teach Sanebox by moving any misplaced email to the correct folder without adjusting many mail rules. The AI is trainable.

Using tagging, rules and project management tool

• I am using MailTags (tagging and projects) and MailActon (advanced mail rules) from the company Smalcubed for this

User interface improvements

• Keyboard Maestro macro to efficiently move around in my system

To do list

• I am using OmniFocus for my to-do list. Please find here the setup of OmniFocus
• I am using DevonThink for storing all my reference files

Please find below the preferences and settings of:

• User interface setup of the Mail app
• View and sorting options
• Mail app preferences
• MailTags
• Mail Act-on
• Keyboard Maestro
• Sanebox

Email preferences – speed of handling matters

If you receive many emails, it is nice to have an efficient “way of working”. Handling mail the fastest way you can, gives you more time to do your job. The way the user interface has been set up, matters. Please find below my setup, how it works for me:

View and sort options

I prefer to setup the user interface in such a way that I can work without any friction. I am aware that this could be very personal preference but for inspiration I will show you mine:

Mail.app preferences

Mailtags settings

If you have installed MailSuit, you get, depending on your selection, two extra tabs in preferences, one for Mailtags and one for MailAction. I will explain below the setting I use for both modules.

Mail Act-On settings

Mail Act-On’s powerful ‘Keystroke’ rules and message filing interface gives you the ability to quickly take action on your email. Use Mail Act-On to build sophisticated email workflows that eliminate repetitive, time-consuming, and error-prone manual email organization. Outbox rules give you the power to alter and organize the messages you send.

With Act-On you can automatically CC or BCC messages depending on rule criteria. Make sure you always use the right delivery account for each recipient; add special headers; delay delivery and more – all with Outbox rules. Mail Act-On gives you unparalleled ability to manage your messages.

Use Act-On’s templates to quickly reply to messages. Use Act-On composer options to specify when messages are delivered, where sent messages get archived, and even which outbox rules are applied.

Keyboard Maestro setup

I use Keyboard Maestro a lot. The tool could be a little overwhelming at first use. MacSparky has published an excellent field guide on this product, here. It takes a couple of hours but the return on this investment will be very fast.

SaneBox setup

I do not use all the functionality of SaneBox. You will find below the settings I use. If you start using SaneBox it will install some mailbox folders, mostly with the name starting with “@SANE….”. You can change the name to your own preference on your mail client (sometimes you need to confirm in Sanebox preferences).

Guideline for e-mail handling in organisations

Below you will find a template for a mail guideline for organisation. You can use this as inspiration, make it your own, adjust to your needed “tone of voice”.

E-mail Etiquette – Less is more

The purpose of this e-mail guideline is:

• to limit the amount of e-mail circulating within our organisation to the essentials; 
• make optimal use of the unique properties of e-mail;
• achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness;
• improve mutual communication.

The use of e-mail is currently not optimal. On average, we spend (too) much time on e-mail and often determine our daily priorities through the notifications in our mailbox, not by the objectives we have set for our organisation. 

You probably also often conclude that you have been e-mailing about a specific subject for days, while if you had picked up the phone, it could have been ready in 5 minutes. Some colleagues look every day at a mailbox of around 500+ unread e-mails, which is not very motivating.

A guideline will work if we all use it as a guideline in our daily work, and this means that you can and must hold each other accountable for compliance with these guidelines. Below you will find the guidelines for:

1. Tips when to e-mail or when not to e-mail 
2. How do you compose the correct e-mail
3. What is the best way to read e-mail?
4. Other points for attention.

Ad 1) Tips for the use of e-mail.

• If walking into a colleague or calling is just as easy/efficient, don’t use e-mail. Besides, personal contact makes working much more fun. Time for a joke and a laugh, but also to add depth to your work. You cannot achieve this via e-mail;
• Save questions such as “how are you?” and “how was your weekend” for other times such as at the proverbial coffee machine, in the hallway, or during lunch;
• Never use e-mail to express irritation or other negative emotions to your colleagues. If there is a disagreement, talk it over with a cup of coffee/tea, where you can look each other in the eye. If there is no other option, save your e-mail message as a draft and look at it again after a few hours with a fresh, calm look, straight in the eye. 
• If you have to negotiate about a specific topic, the mail is less suitable for this;
• If the subject is complex or sensitive, it is better to discuss this in a personal conversation. It can take days to make a point clear by e-mail via question and answer/explanation;
• In general, the more urgent the message, the more e-mail is not a suitable medium;
• Do not use mail to initiate (delegate) actions with others. Only use this when you have a verbal agreement on the action to be taken, and you want to confirm it by e-mail;
• Avoid joint e-mail exchanges with “thank you” and “you’re welcome,” etc…

Ad 2) Compose the correct e-mail.

If you choose to communicate via e-mail, try to compose the e-mail so that the reader can understand the message with little text. Be direct and write what you want. Leave out any “political” sensitivities (then it is better to communicate verbally).

Compose an e-mail

• Consider whether an e-mail is indeed the best medium for the message you want to send (see above). Use of the telephone, personal contact, a meeting or the canteen and other locations is often more effective;
• Only copy people if the message is relevant and always explain why the employee is in the CC. If you can’t explain this, then don’t CC; 
• Try to use a fixed structure in the mail as follows:
  • Paragraph 1: background and reason why you are sending this e-mail;
  • Paragraph 2: goal – what you want to achieve by e-mail;
  • Paragraph 3: approach – what you expect in terms of action/feedback, in what way, and the timeline within which;
• Preferably ask one question per message; 
• Keep messages concise and business-like by:
  • Pay attention to a good, meaningful subject line. No subject line is not allowed; 
  • To formulate to the point (take just a bit more time for that); telegram style is permitted;
• Not to send attachments if the relevant documents can be published on the Shared disk, intranet, or SharePoint, then only the link; 
• Send messages without formatting (so no bells and whistles, such as colors, different fonts, smileys, backgrounds, and colourful signatures); 
• Only use humor in exceptional cases; a difference in interpretation can quickly lead to misunderstandings; 
• Reread your e-mail critically before pressing the send button and enable spell check;
• Formulate what you expect from the other (a reaction, an action, an answer). Also, indicate if the message is for information and the recipient does not have to respond;

When replying to an e-mail

• Respond preferably within one but no more than two working days to e-mail messages from colleagues. If you are absent for a more extended period, use the Out of Office.
• Explicitly state what you will be doing and when in response to the message. In your reply, delete irrelevant passages if you quote parts of the original message (with the familiar> characters)
• If there are several questions in the mail to answer, dedicate each paragraph to one answer with the section’s bolded question. Answer them all or indicate if you cannot. In other words, don’t let things “hang”;
• Indicate at the bottom of your message – if relevant – when you can be reached on which number so that the recipient can respond to your message in a way other than by e-mail.

Ad 3) Reading messages:

• In principle, only open each e-mail once. It may be one of the most challenging things. Because how often do you open an e-mail and then think that you will look at it at a later time. It happens that messages are opened twice or three times. Time and again, you have to delve into the text again. Precious time, memory, and energy are lost.
• Keep wondering what the core of the message is:
  • a question: answer the question immediately if possible;
  • an assignment/request: work this out directly if this can be done within 3 minutes; otherwise, put it in your to-do list and or plan the job in your calendar and communicate back when you are going to do this;
  • inform: read through or print important information that you need to consult several times or archive in the document database;
• Keep your inbox organized. The inbox should only contain messages that you have yet to read (unread):
  • keep the inbox organized by archiving messages immediately after you have answered and finished them;
  • if you have given the activity resulting from the action a place on your to-do list or in your calendar (you can then open the message from the archive as soon as you start working on the task in question);
  • if you have printed them out because you want the information on paper to hand; 
• Take the time once a day (plan this in your agenda) to empty your inbox to start with a clean slate the following day. 
• Never use your inbox as a to-do list. You will never get your work done. Schedule in your calendar or move an e-mail to Tasks / Tasks in Outlook;

Ad 4) Other points for attention

• Turn off your e-mail notification. This signal that sounds as soon as a message arrives distracts from work and disturbs others working in your room; 
• Take action if you spend more than an hour a day sending and replying to the e-mail. Is all that e-mail part of your task and objectives, can you “cut back” on e-mail, can you handle your e-mail more efficiently ?;
• Talk to each other! For this guideline to work optimally, you may alert colleagues who ‘sin’ against it by referring to this document. Do this in a friendly manner: “I would like to refer you to our e-mail guideline.” Or “I know you mean well, but I’d rather not receive jokes.”

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