Managing Rare is a sub-section of my main Substack
, where I will focus more on what I am learning as a project manager. It is a role I thoroughly enjoy and I’m looking forward to growing and developing my skills this year. I have a lot to learn, so I decided to start this newsletter to help me with my own personal development. I also hope that this newsletter might be helpful to you too!Side note, I’m also on the look-out for a mentor, so if you know an experienced project manager that might be interested in helping me develop my skills please let me know.
So without further ado, let’s get into it!
Emails
Emails might not be the most glamorous topic, but as a project manager I get a lot of emails and I believe email management is a key pillar to success! So consistently staying on top of my inbox is key. The tactics I am using at the moment to reduce stress and ensure prompt responses are the following.
Working Folders
I have four working folders
Inbox — new emails. This folder should be cleared at the end of each day. The inbox is to be respected and the goal is Inbox Zero.
Requires Action — if I can not immediately respond to an email it is added to this folder. I allocate time each day to working through these emails.
Awaiting Response — if I have actioned and replied to an email and I’m waiting for a response. No further action is required for me. From time to time I might go through this folder and follow up emails if I have not received a response.
To Archive — If the email thread is complete, and I don’t have time to archive the email straight away I can add the email to this folder until I have time to archive the email appropriately. See below.
Archive Folders
The top level of archive folders are A-Z + General Folder.
A-Z
Client folders are created within their respectively A-Z folder (I.e clients starting with A go in the in the A folder)
Projects are added within their respective client folder. Where possible the project code is included at the start of the title
Kick-Off, Development and Quotes & Invoices folders are added within each respective project folder
I use this method because it makes it easy to retrieve specific emails as required.
General Folder
The general folder is really in-house admin. I keep copies of studio emails, subscriptions and invoices that don’t relate to a specific project in this folder. Like the A-Z folder I try to keep this tidy and methodical.
Rules
To reduce distraction, I endeavour to limit the number of personal email subscriptions to my work email. If I do receive subscription emails to my inbox that are not a priority, I consider setting up a seperate folder and adding a rule so these emails don’t end up cluttering my working inbox.
Unread
If I have read an email and can not action it immediately, I mark the email as unread as a reminder that I need to action it later.
Emotional
If I feel I am getting emotional about a problem I endeavour to write out my emotional response and then leave it until the next day. If I feel like the email is still appropriate I can then send it. Otherwise, I need to delete it and write it from a less emotionally elevated state. If I’m unsure about the email, I need to give myself time and space to process it. More often than not, I don’t need to reply straight away. If there is a time pressure, I should give the person a call (and go in listening first before jumping to conclusions). It is important to know the advantages and disadvantages of emails.
What do you think?
Let me know in the comments below if you have any tactics for keeping on top of your inbox or managing emails?
Dear Timothy—
I have a disease similar to Stills—fibromyalgia. It’s comparable to rheumatoid arthritis in degree of destruction on body, mind, family, career. Since I got it as a 20-year-old man, and it usually affects elderly women, my presentation was rare. I’m a family physician. I’ve taken care of far more patients with fibro than Stills, but I’ve never had a male fibro patient who got their disease as young as I did.
I like to run, and I like to write. It’s good to know you are writing, bringing hope, finding purpose through your hardship. I’m trying to do the same. Maybe our purposes will align for something significant someday.
TroyAThompsonMD@gmail.com
TroyAndrewThompson.com
PS I have a post on running, titled “After the Cone.” (I’m not on Substack yet, but probably will be later in 2024.) My epic dystopian fantasy novels, not yet published, explore chronic pain, and do it in the Stone Age, where running is really important.
Troy
Hi, Tim—
Sounds like fun. I’d like to talk sometime. I wonder what time of day would work for both of us. I’m just on EST, which is GMT + 5 hours.
I used to run more. My goal is to participate in at least 1-2 little road races per year. I’m planning on a 5K in mid May. My goal was 24 minutes, 23 min in my dreams. We’ll see. Are you running any races soon?
Troy