Stanford students involved in many activities need a way to organize email based on both time-sensitivity and importance, so that they can accurately gauge the amount of imminent email and prioritize their actions. POINT OF VIEW: 

“I never get the satisfaction of an empty inbox.” “My inbox is my to-do list” “Some emails need thinking time, and yet they still add to the apparent count of things I haven’t finished yet.” “Many emails might be important, but I don’t have time to read them, so I make a mental note. Sometimes those emails get squashed under other unread emails and then it’s a bad situation.” “The only feature I use is the read/unread filter.” “I wish I could delete email with my eyes!” “Things will only be in my inbox if I haven't taken care of them” “If I have to scroll to see my entire inbox, then I stress out.” { { { Vikas Anirudh Michelle “Some things are actually urgent, but others are just things that I should take care of at some point” 

STRESS! Must prioritize time-sensitive, important tasks! MENTAL MODEL Inbox = To-do list MANAGEMENT Classify emails as either ‘done’ or ‘not done’ CONFLICT Time-sensitivity and relative importance of ‘not done’ items is not captured STRESS! Too many tasks! Which ones are urgent? Which need time? STRESS! Important tasks are getting squashed by new ones! CONFLICT Some tasks require time to think and cannot be addressed immediately STRESS! I am never done with all of my tasks. It never ends!