My Feedback Process

First of all – all my email is handled by Gmail. I have yet to find a better email client – it is Web-based so it remains accessible to me at all times (I check my email very frequently, even when I’m out, I have a Nokia E61 that has WiFi, and there are plenty of places that have free WiFi, so it’s really convenient). So I am very happy with Gmail, it has everything I need, it supports multiple (non) Gmail accounts, and it is a service I would gladly pay for if it ever goes down that road.

Anyway, at the end of the day, I try to get my inbox down to zero messages (which I rarely do by the way), but anyway, I try not to leave anything for tomorrow what I can do today. Then I take all the emails that contain important and comprehensive feedback from clients and coworkers and I print them out. Of course I don’t print out the “Good job, we like it.” emails, just the ones that have more than – say three actionable points (meaning three items that require me to do something about, and I can’t do them instantly). I reread the email once more from the paper (good for getting a clearer picture) and I take a highlighting marker and highlight all the important bits, so later I can just read those parts and not even waste a second at the “noise” from other thoughts and sentences in the email.

Later, when I’m done with the actions that were required from me, I reply to the original email and throw away the paper because man can those things pile up!

I would highly recommend this process to anyone dealing with large amount of email communication and client-you conversation that involve actions to be taken upon receiving an email.