communication tool to-do list external memory A technologically sophisticated knowledge worker needs to feel like she is control of the flow of messages into her inbox because for her, functions simultaneously as
interviews Sabrina 28, grad student, former Director of Finance Account for person, school, & transactional/ mass email “I’ve got school email, personal email, and spam email for receipts. My personal email is the cleanest because I have a goal of inbox zero.” I have these emails that I've marked as unread. One is from the 7th which is embarrassingly long ago. I haven't responded because I don't have time. But this one I haven't responded to: I've liked a picture of hers on Facebook so she knows I'm here." “This is a bad night for email. Because there are so many I can’t get rid of. Because I have to do something for them.” “I don’t use keyboard shortcuts in Gmail. I wish I did, but I haven’t invested the time to learn them.” “I write emails very schizophrenically. I often sign the email before I write it. I don’t know why. I think it makes me feel like I’m making progress.” "I’m normally aware of what's coming in, because I check it on my phone. But I don't think it's efficient. It's putting mindshare--it puts something in my head that stresses me out, but I can't do anything about it.” Jon 28, grad student, former nonprofit entrepreneur Many accounts, but all forward to personal account and are immediately archived. “I keep my Stanford email and personal email separate. I think it’s from the days when I had a Blackberry and my own phone. When one phone rang, I knew it was good news. When the other rang, it was bad news.” “I use it as externalized memory. There was a guy I met in 2005, 2006, and I was able to dig up his address and respond to an email from five years ago.” “A lot of the time it’s like, ‘F***, I have to respond to this email but I don’t want to.’” “I hate GChat. Gmail is a time to have my communication more structured--deciding who you want to talk to and when.” “I’ve though about two-factor auth, but worry that I’ll be without my phone. But my entire life is on my email, so I worry about it being secure.” “A girl I knew years ago emailed me out of the blue and asked me to look over her [GSB] application and essays and all. It got me thinking that by having my email address somewhere, she had a kind of leverage over me.” Elaine 30, business operations at tech company Personal and work accounts “A lot of times I’ll get a sense of what’s in my inbox on my phone, and then deal with it on my computer. I delete things and respond to easy/ urgent things on my phone, but then go to my computer.” “I open emails in the order of their easiness to deal with.” "I don't delete personal email because there's not a real reason to. It's like my way of journaling. I just let them pile up in my inbox. I don't often look past the first few pages." “I start with new emails to try to get rid of the clutter before I get to things I know I need to respond to. There’s a sense of accomplishment at seeing the unread number go down.” “Now I guess I have to respond to this other email from [my friend] Dani because I just responded to her other email, so she’ll know I looked at it.” “Here’s an unread email from October. I just stare at it until I’m ready to deal with it.”
of use cases and considerations When do I have to respond? What if I lose access to my old messages? It’s my life, but other people can push their way in Will I lose track of things? Is it organized? Can I tell what I have to get done? Am I being efficient? What if I miss something important? Does s/he know I’m avoiding responding? I can’t concentrate because I’m constantly distracted by new things Do I have what I need to respond to this now? Is this going to take my time or not? Is this good news or bad news? What do I work on first? What if someone gets into my email? Communication Tool External Memory To-do List Can I find what I’m looking for? Am I making progress?
buzz Skim email Mark as unread Unread count increases Respond to easy mail first More emails requiring action Clutter increases more & more ‘Doing email’ takes longer & longer Lose track as items pushed off page 1 External memory becomes polluted What if I lost access to my email? Escalation of stressors
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