Zero Inbox in Gmail ? Love or hate it? | C2C Community

Zero Inbox in Gmail ? Love or hate it?


Userlevel 5
Badge +11

So, with a few specialists we started a discussion on the Zero inbox (duly note that this was launched when it was remarked that the Google unread pastille in Gmail now became more visible (increase in size)… 

 

So here goes… what is your philosophy to the Zero Inbox ?

My take :

Zero inbox is a utpoia and inefficient. Best email management, is no email.

Get your colleagues to tag you on docs instead of sending a mail "Hey , I just updated the doc, can you check it out?" urgh.. 🙄

Get your clients to learn how to use chat or forms to contact you for a support request... (because, if you don't pick up the phone right away, they'll just send an email)..

Get your suppliers to send your bills to a dedicated email and automate that with filters and so on..

And finally when a mail comes in.. 1 of 3 options..

  1. respond immediately,
  2. snooze to respond later,
  3. delete.

Only archive what you need to trace (and that should not really be that much, since everything is in a Google Doc (perpetual minutes is my big thing with my clients.. I set up a standardised template GDoc and get them to write whatever they where going to ask in it.. and tag me if urgent.. otherwise get reviewed at our regular meetings...

What do you think?


5 replies

Userlevel 5
Badge +11

@rowanmanson I’m sure has an opinion on this topic.

Userlevel 2

Great topic of discussion @alan.muntadas (good to hear from you always sir!) and thanks for the tag in @Marcy.Young! 🙌

I see a lot of excellent logic in the strategy and totally agreed that reducing unnecessary email is the way to go - as I also don’t generally find email is suited to most forms of modern working!

I’m keen to understand more about the delete vs archive part - what’s the advantage in deleting when you have no real storage limitations?? Less clogging up of the search results?

Userlevel 5
Badge +11

I’m keen to understand more about the delete vs archive part - what’s the advantage in deleting when you have no real storage limitations?? Less clogging up of the search results?

 

@rowanmanson You have to do your bit for the planet don’t you? Deleting what you don”t need, when done on a global scale does have an impact on disk space, etc..., and by consequence on energy requirements… it may not seem like much on an individual level, but it does add up…

Userlevel 7

I love the thoughts on better communication alternatives like tagging in documents, chat, etc. 

After a decade on Outlook, I’ve come to really appreciate Gmail because of snooze and add to tasks. 

I got in fits and starts pursuing “zero inbox” but I’m mostly snoozing or adding things to a task list to focus on what I need to clear out today. Although, I find this sometimes creates a new problem of snoozing the same email for days or weeks until I realize I never really needed to act on that anyway. 

I’m excited to follow this thread to hear the community’s thoughts and different points of view. 

Hello

Yes! I agree with you @alan.muntadas , when you say zero inbox is an utopia.  I tried several ways to achieve this goal, and never succeed. 

I am not sure if everyone can convince internal or external contacts to use only shared documents an tags. And you will still receive many mails, and have to scan your inbox + the docs.

So, I am OK that the key in managing your mailbox is in your organization answer/snooze/delete.

 

Anyway i’m still interested in other’s experience if any.

Thanks

Reply