In an effort to increase productivity and efficiency I am beginning a new personal email policy.  I receive about 90-110 non-spam emails per weekday from different individuals that require some action. While many emails just need to be filed, more than half require a response. Of these, half are relatively quick one-liners and the other half require 5–10 minutes of my time to craft a response. This results in huge time investment each day. Given that I can’t delegate these responses to an army of administrative assistants, I’ve decided to try to re-take control of my schedule. I will now spend no more than 1 hour per day responding to email. I apologize in advance if I don’t respond to your email.

 

Below is my current email policy:

• Given the volume of emails I receive, I cannot respond to all emails.

• If I have not responded within a week, it is unlikely you will receive a response. This does not mean I don’t value your communication, but I am simply overwhelmed, and this is my coping mechanism.

• Emails of less than 3 lines in length have a much better chance at getting a response.

• A note to graduate student applicants: I do read and file your emails and refer back to them when we conduct our admissions (January of every year). This means that even if you do not receive a reply, I have noted your communication.

• A tip to prospective research volunteers/RA/thesis students: if you don't receive an email, try checking in at a later time. It's really about your timing. 

 

I hope this new email management policy will facilitate understanding among those who do not receive an immediate reply and foster more focused and creative research on my part.

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(Please note this email policy was inspired by my collaborator, Prof. Louis Collins)