Taming the email monster

Nov 06 2007 by Brian Amble Print This Article

Is your inbox overwhelming you? Is it full of other peoples' problems? Are you drowning in urgent messages, all demanding to be answered yesterday? Do you sometimes wish that the whole email revolution had never happened?

If the burden of electronic communication sometimes becomes just too much, you need to listen to the Working Week. Because this week, Wayne talks to Dr Monica Seeley, co-author of 'Managing in the Email Office' and an expert on email best practice and efficiency.

A Visiting Fellow at Imperial College's Management School, Monica has conducted several research studies, including looking at gender differences in the use of electronic communications and the use of collaborative working tools.

She is also founder of Mesmo Consultancy, which helps organisations educate users to manage and use email more effectively to improve their business productivity.

And improve it they must, because as Monica tells Wayne, our addiction to our inboxes – plus the sheer number of unnecessary emails we are all sent - means that we are each wasting between seven and 21 productive days a year.

Listen on to find out how to regain control of the email monster and how to give yourself back some time to think, rather than click.


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Listen to it using the player here, or head on over to the Podcast page to download it and sign up for the Working Week RSS feed.