<commit_before>---
layout: post
title: Keeping your sanity with email and slack notifications

---

I agree with [<NAME>] (https://m.signalvnoise.com/is-group-chat-making-you-sweat-744659addf7d#.d3uzdc7sk) - group chat (or even just constant email checking) is a productivity killer. But considering I still have to be somewhat responsive to keep my job, I’ve figured out how to stay sane in our modern world’s notification hellscape.This post outlines how I deal with the worst offenders (email and slack) sending distracting notifications. Maybe it’ll be helpful for you too.

I’ve borrowed an idea from a fellow PM, who believes, “If it’s important, it’ll come up again.” This philosophy is the basis for my email and Slack notifications workflow. As scary as ignoring emails and slacks can sound (what if it’s my boss!?), I find any notifications I manage to miss, will resurface again if whatever caused them was important enough. Yes, this means I’m less responsive than I could be. But it’s worth the tradeoff to keep my attention - people can ask for my focus all they want, it’s still my call whether they get it.

So, what does this mean for my day-to-day workflow?

Here’s how I use email: 
I use Google Inbox, with appropriate filters set up to give me daily/weekly rollups for group emails.
I use the keyboard shortcuts - “y” (archive) is your new best friend. I read and then archive anything without a direct action item for me to follow up on. I can always search for it if I need to re-read later.
Some messages only require a quick (sub 2 minute) response. I deal with them immediately, then archive. (NB: I don’t leave those messages in my Inbox to remind me I’m expecting a response - If it’s important, it’ll come up again.)
I leave messages (usually one or two) with larger ‘to-do’ items in my Inbox. I archive them once I’ve ‘done’ whatever the action was.
Close the email tab so I won’t interrupt myself to check it out of habit. This has done almost as much for my productivity as the rest of my rules combined.

Here are my rules for slack:
Turn off all notifications in the Dock / top right corner. I don’t understand how people could get anything done without doing this.
Stay on the “All Unreads” tab.
Hit ‘enter’ to read and then ‘r’ liberally to mark notifications not needing a response as “read”.
Use Cmd-K to jump to and respond to channels/conversations.
Create slack in my day by turning off Slack. I usually take a few hours in the morning to focus on “deep work” (a la [Cal Newport] (http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/)) before I open Slack for the day.



<commit_msg>fix links<commit_after>---
layout: post
title: Keeping your sanity with email and slack notifications

---

I agree with [<NAME>](https://m.signalvnoise.com/is-group-chat-making-you-sweat-744659addf7d#.d3uzdc7sk) - group chat (or even just constant email checking) is a productivity killer. But considering I still have to be somewhat responsive to keep my job, I’ve figured out how to stay sane in our modern world’s notification hellscape.This post outlines how I deal with the worst offenders (email and slack) sending distracting notifications. Maybe it’ll be helpful for you too.

I’ve borrowed an idea from a fellow PM, who believes, “If it’s important, it’ll come up again.” This philosophy is the basis for my email and Slack notifications workflow. As scary as ignoring emails and slacks can sound (what if it’s my boss!?), I find any notifications I manage to miss, will resurface again if whatever caused them was important enough. Yes, this means I’m less responsive than I could be. But it’s worth the tradeoff to keep my attention - people can ask for my focus all they want, it’s still my call whether they get it.

So, what does this mean for my day-to-day workflow?

Here’s how I use email: 
I use Google Inbox, with appropriate filters set up to give me daily/weekly rollups for group emails.
I use the keyboard shortcuts - “y” (archive) is your new best friend. I read and then archive anything without a direct action item for me to follow up on. I can always search for it if I need to re-read later.
Some messages only require a quick (sub 2 minute) response. I deal with them immediately, then archive. (NB: I don’t leave those messages in my Inbox to remind me I’m expecting a response - If it’s important, it’ll come up again.)
I leave messages (usually one or two) with larger ‘to-do’ items in my Inbox. I archive them once I’ve ‘done’ whatever the action was.
Close the email tab so I won’t interrupt myself to check it out of habit. This has done almost as much for my productivity as the rest of my rules combined.

Here are my rules for slack:
Turn off all notifications in the Dock / top right corner. I don’t understand how people could get anything done without doing this.
Stay on the “All Unreads” tab.
Hit ‘enter’ to read and then ‘r’ liberally to mark notifications not needing a response as “read”.
Use Cmd-K to jump to and respond to channels/conversations.
Create slack in my day by turning off Slack. I usually take a few hours in the morning to focus on “deep work” (a la [Cal Newport](http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/)) before I open Slack for the day.




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