How I manage email
I’m slightly neurotic when it comes to managing email. Inbox zero is my zen. Though I never really get to enjoy it because it fills back up just minutes later. But it’s still nice to keep everything as manageable as I can.
(^ This is my inbox currently and it makes me very happy.)
Founders go through a lot of email. If you’re not on top of it, it’ll dominate your day. I typically get/send about 200 emails per day.
While there are tons of tools to help manage inbox hell, I’ve got my own system (and I don’t have to pay a monthly fee for better email… I’m looking at you Superhuman and others).
Here’s what I do:
I have one folder set up in gmail: .read (the decimal makes sure it comes to the top of the folders list).
I also set up my inbox to have “Unread” up top and “Everything Else” at the bottom (this is a setting in Gmail if you haven’t played around with the inbox settings).
When an email comes in, it gets sorted by how quickly I can reply as well as its urgency.
If I can respond quickly (2 mins or less), I respond and it goes into the .read folder and I never look at it again.
If it takes longer than that and isn’t urgent, I mark it as read and it stays in my inbox.
I set up time blocks throughout the day for batch reviewing emails that require longer responses, work, or more thought.
Emails stay in my inbox until one of these time blocks or until an urgent email comes in.
That’s it!
So the workflow looks something like this:
Email is open on my second monitor
See some emails come in
Take a quick look and nothing is urgent
Fire off a few quick responses
Keep the others for later response
Get to an email time block and respond to the longer emails
Go back to work and the process repeats itself
This time, an urgent email comes in and requires some thought
Focus on the response and knock out any other emails in the queue
It’s a pretty straightforward process, and it’s a lifesaver.
How I spend my time
I use Toggl to track my time. I highly recommend it if you’re looking to see how you spend your time (it’s free).
My working day is typically from 8:30a - 10p M-F. During these hours, I’m “on” or available for meetings. I try not to take meetings outside of these hours unless we’re working out of difficult timezones.
During the working day, I have two types of time blocks: meetings or heads down. Meetings are self-explanatory and head down blocks are for working on things like email, writing, presentations, strategy, etc.
Meeting Types:
1:1s - These are my one-on-one meetings with employees. They’re a great opportunity to see how things are going, where folks are stuck, and how I can be helpful. I meet with all direct reports weekly and also have 3 skip levels each week where I meet with indirect reports.
Leadership - These are strategy meetings and check-ins, company all-hands meetings, and other company-wide meetings.
Investors - This increases and decreases depending on what we’re doing as a company. These meetings could be pitch meetings for capital, strategic conversations with financial partners, or it might be spent building partnerships for a later fundraise.
Product - I have two standing weekly meetings on product strategy. This could also include meetings related to new features or QA testing prior to a rollout.
Admin - Because we’re still a small team, I manage payroll, vacation requests, benefits, and employee onboarding/off-boarding.
Board Management - These are standing meetings with our Board of Directors.
Hiring - This is low right now because of COVID. Typically, I spend about 3 hours per week in interviews.
Sales, Marketing, and PR - Part of my job is building public awareness for the company to help bring in leads. So I’m often working with trade press, speaking at virtual summits (right now), or recording podcasts. I also join the sales team on calls (or visits when we are able to travel) on occasion.
Advisory - I typically have one or two meetings a week with other founders. Sometimes it’s to ask for help on something and sometimes it’s to help out on a problem they’re trying to solve.
XFactor - I’m also a partner at a VC firm that invests in early stage companies. What’s really neat about the firm is all of the partners are also founders. It’s a great way for founders to get exposure to the other side of the table. As founders, we often see a lot of dealflow. Now, we get to tap into a fund to invest if we see things we love. It also helps me become a better founder. During the week, I might take a meeting here or there, but for the most part I work on XFactor things over the weekend.
Fitness - I bike to and from the office every day. We also do a Wednesday workout with our team at Artemis. Nick, who runs the trainings, is awesome and if you’re thinking about zoom workout sessions, I really recommend him. This time block only includes fitness activities within the working hours (just biking and the weekly workout).
I also work on Saturdays and Sundays, but the hours are slightly more sporadic. Weekends are when I get a lot of writing done, work on XFactor Ventures, and spend time on more creative projects that I don’t get to during the week. It’s easier to get longer blocks of time on weekends and cut down on distractions.
Some News
Speaking of PR, we were recently featured in two great trade pieces. You can check them out below if you’re interested in what I’m working on.
MMJDaily : "The question is: how do we find best practices, and how do we execute them at scale?"
Hortidaily : “Growers adjust and keep moving forward”