Tech Lab

BY PAMELA BIR

Rivitalizing Your Outlook on Productivity

Microsoft Outlook is definitely the e-mail service of choice for business professionals. In this article, we'll look at some of Outlook's productivity tools that can help us work smarter. (The concepts will apply to most e-mail manager or organizer software.)

Outlook is best known as an e-mail manager, although it has other features, including Calendar, Task List and Journal Entry.

You can set it to collect e-mails from multiple addresses so that you can deal with e-mail more efficiently. For example, I can pick up my messages from Pamela@aol.com, Pamela@ yahoo.com, Pamela@YourComputerLady.com and even Pamela@favoritecustomer.com. This saves me running around to four different places to read messages. (Be careful about picking up your personal messages at the office. You are saving those messages on the company's computer and are giving them permission to access those messages.)

Storage Folders

Set up your own folders under the Inbox so you can store e-mails "to" and "from" correspondents in a logical manner. For example, set up a folder for each client, with sub-folders under each client for the different projects you do for them.

You can drag-and-drop incoming e-mails and outgoing e-mails to your folders. Everything you receive from the client, and everything you send to the client, is in one place.

Rules

Use Rules to put e-mail in the appropriate folders automatically:

1. Go to "Tools" on the menu bar "Rules and Alerts."
2. Click on the "E-mail Rules" tab.
3. Click on "New Rule."
4. Select "Start from a blank rule."
5. The Rules Wizard will walk you through setting up the rule. Read the instructions in each window that pops up and choose your options.

Now when a message is received from a particular person, it will automatically go into their folder instead of to the Inbox. You will know there is a new message, since unread messages are indicated by a number beside each folder. It works the opposite way as well: You can set a rule so that e-mail messages you send to that same person are saved in the proper folder.

Now your mail is sorted for you and saved in the proper folders so you can find anything you need when someone asks you a question. No more lost time searching for old e-mails! And those bad jokes from Aunt Marge? They can be put directly into Deleted Items so you don't even have to grumble about them!

Manage Your Inbox

Set Outlook to give you an alarm when a new e-mail arrives, but don't stop every time and answer the message. Just because you get an e-mail doesn't mean you have to answer it instantly. Glance at the alert to see if the message is an emergency or something that deserves an immediate answer. Otherwise, let e-mails accumulate and deal with them three or four times a day. This will make you more productive, cut down on errors and increase the quality of your work.

I suggest you make three runs through your Inbox:

1. Delete spam, junk mail or messages you don't want to read and move newsletters, ads and long messages to the Reading folder.
2. Take care of messages you can handle in two minutes or less. After you answer, drag the message in the appropriate storage folder.
3. Drag each remaining message to your Task List to put it on your to-do list with an appropriate due date. Then you can deal with them based on priority. Prioritize them just as you would a phone message or written letter.

The e-mail will still be in your Inbox. Drag it to the appropriate folder for reference. It's on your Task List so you won't forget it.

You end up with an empty Inbox!

Calendar and To-Do List

This is by far the most important item in this article. If you follow only this one step, you will see a dramatic improvement in productivity.

It is impossible to look at your Inbox, your list of to-do items from last Monday's staff meeting, your list of to-do items from that client meeting and your list of scheduled appointments and prioritize or even manage them. Impossible! You can't realistically prioritize, so you don't know if you're working on the most important items. You'll let something fall through the cracks, you'll forget the message in the Inbox, or you'll miss an item on the second page of your notes.

Instead, put every task you need to complete on one calendar/to-do list. Yes, it may be a long list, but now you can be realistic. I have one scheduled appointment that will take a total of three hours. Which tasks are the most important for the remaining five hours in my day?

Estimate the time for each task. Don't beat yourself up putting 20 hours of work on the list for today. It's okay not to get 20 things done if you finished the three that were most important.

In Outlook, you can customize the Calendar view to work in a manner that's most logical or helpful to you. I work from the Daily Calendar view. I've put the Task List on the right side and set it to show me any tasks scheduled for today or any from yesterday that I didn't get to. I don't see the entire List, only today and yesterday. That lets me prioritize what I need to do today.

Outlook Recurring Events

Outlook and other electronic time-management software gives you the ability to schedule repetitive tasks. You don't have to write down the 12 CSI monthly meetings; simply set a recurring event on the second Wednesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. Use repetitive tasks for meetings, calls and other tasks that you do routinely. It's too easy for them to slip through the cracks.

Also, use this for marketing to be sure you contact clients on a regular basis. Example: I want to contact the facilities manager at XYZ Office to build a relationship so she'll contact me when she's ready for a new building addition. The recurring event signals me to call, visit or mail a pertinent article every 60 days so I stay at the top of her favorite architects list.

Sharing a Calendar

If you use Outlook on a server, you can set up shared calendars to schedule staff meetings or reserve time in a conference room. If you need to share your calendar and task list with others but don't have a server, or you don't even work in the same office, consider an online service. Most are very Outlook-like, so it's an easy transition. GroveSite (www.grovesite.com) is an example of a sophisticated service with good security that allows multiple people access to your calendar and other information. Yahoo.com offers some excellent services, and Google Apps is a free service that lets you share not only calendars, but documents as well.

Use Color Coding

A simple yet effective way to maintain balance in your business and personal life is to use different colors for different events and tasks. For example, my administrative tasks are in blue, and my sales tasks are in green. If I look at my calendar for the week and everything is blue, I know sales will suffer. Business activities could be red, and family activities could be purple. If I look at my calendar for the week and everything is red, I know I'll be missing time with my family.

Paper vs. Electronic

Should you use a paper system, such as Day Runner, or an electronic system, such as BlackBerry? Or should you use a combination of the two?

Ask yourself these questions:

• How far in advance do I routinely schedule appointments?
• How often does my schedule change during the week?
• How many people do I need to contact while I'm out of the office?

If you need to schedule appointments weeks or months in advance, electronic might be easier than carrying a full year of calendar pages around. If your schedule frequently changes during the day or week, electronic might be simpler than erasures or rewriting an appointment three times. If you need access to a lot of phone numbers wherever you go, electronic might be easier because it stays more current and takes up less space.

Analyze how you use your calendar and task list, consider how comfortable you are with technology, then work out a system that is right for you. Don't follow the Joneses simply for the sake of keeping up.

Outlook will sync to any smart phone or PDA that uses the Windows Mobile operating system. It can also sync with BlackBerry, Palm and many other operating systems/devices.

If you prefer hard copies, Outlook will also let you print calendars, address books and task lists in many formats.

Pamela Bir is principal of Your Computer Lady, a Phoenix, Arizona–based firm that handles PowerPoint presentations, Spanish translations, Web site development and maintenance, marketing literature and more. For more information, visit www.YourComputerLady.com or reach her at Pamela@YourComputerLady.com.