Towards Inbox Zero: Being ultraproductiveJussi Roine, Chief SharePoint ArchitectOnsight Helsinki

#ProductivityDay Spring 2013

Organizers

#ProductivityDay

Jussi RoineArchitect, trusted advisor, mojito

enthusiast

Microsoft Certified Master: SharePoint 2010

Microsoft Certified Solutions Master: SharePoint

Microsoft Certified Trainer

Certified Scrum Master

SharePoint User Group Finland Community Lead

jussi@onsight.fi

About.me/jussiroine

Training and solutions for Microsoft technologies

http://onsight.fi

Best talent in Finland for all Microsoft solutions

http://names.fi

So, you might wonder why I’ve gathered you here today..

What’s Inbox Zero? Why should I care?

Achieving Inbox Zero

Feeling busy, being busy or being productive?

Productivity tools of today

#ProductivityDay

”Lunch was bad” (actual feedback I’ve received)

Ask me questions - or as Mr. Garrison from South Park would say:

“remember there are no stupid questions, just stupid people”

What’s Inbox Zero?

The ProblemEmail overload is a real issue

It’s not just email: It’s instant messaging, calendar invitations, alerts, notifications..

Part of the problem is the fear of missing out – and being available 24/7

Digital detox, Tech Sabbath and other cute names

http://inboxzero.comInvented by Merlin Mann

Inbox Zero allows you to reclaim

your email

your attention

your life

The ideaInbox Zero is a very simple concept

0 emails in your inbox

That’s it. Thank you.

(You may now go home)

How it worksSome messages are more equal than others

Your time is priceless – and very limited

Lose the guilt – you are not the only one fighting with email overflow

Stop checking on emails constantly

Just do it.

How it worksBased on 5 actions My personal approach is only 3:

Do ( Archive)

Defer (Do later)

Delegate ( Archive)

Time will solve -pile

But, wait.. No, it’s not that easy!Why not? What’s stopping you?

Some common excuses:

”My Inbox is perfectly fine with 13985 emails..”

”I get so many emails that I’m too busy to sort them out”

”I need to be included in all email communications”

”I’m on so many distribution lists that I simply cannot control my Inbox”

It’s about prioritizing thingsOn average Finnish people watch tv for 3 hours

and 3 mins a day Source: Finnpanel (2012)

That’s about 21 hours a week

There’s 168 hours in a week, or about 115 hours a week for yourself

In essence, people spend about 18% of their wake-up time watching TV...

I’ll let that sink in :-)

Achieving Inbox Zero

My experience with Inbox Zero I’m fairly familiar with productivity techniques

such as Gettings Things Done (GTD), the Pomodoro Technique and The Action Method

I felt the problem wasn’t really about managing tasks, but about information overflow through email

I embarked on my voyage towards Inbox Zero in January, 2013

Getting to Inbox Zero I’m super-efficient in decluttering my life

Less stuff is actually more

It took me one weekend to achieve Inbox Zero for all of my email inboxes (3)

It wasn’t really that hard – just add persistence, some good Argentinian wine and a mojito, and music, and a mojito. Add mojitos when necessary.

It’s a decision and once you get started, it’s actually fairly easy to stick to

Decluttering

Findings from Inbox ZeroDon’t read emails during the weekend – it just effin sucks!

Actually, don’t work during the weekends

Switch email to manual sync on your mobile devices

Close Outlook. Really, just ALT-F4 that attention wh.. seeker

Email is important but I’ve switched to using plain-old phone calls and actually seeing people face to face. I know, I’m a trendsetter..

What now? It’s been about 5 months of Inbox Zero for me

I’m happier than ever!

I blogged about my experience in January http://bit.ly/V0Rtbm (in Finnish)

I came up with 3 short rules for managing your time with email http://bit.ly/12YhkW2 Don’t assume, Don’t forward, Don’t argue

I still haven’t ordered my Inbox Zero Nerd Badges (hint for a Christmas present for me!)

Feeling busy, being busy, or being

productive?

The differenceFeeling busy is easy – just ”do stuff” – it’s easy

to fill a whole week by being reactive and meta-working

Being busy often comes from external drivers

Being productive is about deciding what’s important and doing that

In essence, you’ll need to achieve things, and get stuff done. Daily.

My daily routineEvery morning I write 3 things down I need to

achieve during the day

When I’ve accomplished those 3 things I can

Leave work

or

Continue working on other stuff

What about today?

My daily routineI try to be at the office before 8am and leave the

office 4.30pm the latest – I aim for 100% loadI don’t do breaks

I resume working – if I feel like it – at ~8pm I used to work during the weekends but not anymore

I don’t really care how many hours I do since essentially, I don’t want to be measured by hours, I want to be measured by what I can deliver

I care how much stuff I get done

Grand Canyon.. with a helicopter

Working remotely

Working remotely

Rock climbing (laptop is in base camp)

In the hammock

Productivity tools of today

Hey, where’s the SharePoint angle here?Damn, I thought you’d forget that by now!

But I did promise..

SharePoint = Productivity, if you choose to use it like it was designed to be used

Otherwise, SharePoint is a huge time waster

The essentialsSharePoint 2013 revolves around social –

Newsfeed, Yammer, Follow and Personal Site

Start simple, grow from there

Site Mailbox and Work Management are good but contained and somewhat complex to set up

Less is more, keep it simple

So, what should I do?Try Inbox Zero – just skip one evening of

television!

Read – I can heartily recommend..

Thank you! And sorry ;-)