Communication Overload Approaches

Pragmatic, unglamorous innovations are often the most useful. For example, consider NLP to label patient messages rather than Gen AI to answer them. In late 2022, Kaiser started applying its home-grown natural language processing (NLP) algorithms to label patient portal messages with categories such as admin question, medication issue, skin condition, and emergency. Over a five-month study period, the NLP labeled more than 3.6 million messages. Roughly 40% (1.5 million) of these messages were flagged and directed to a centralized “desktop medicine” team, which resolved them before they ever reached the patients’ personal PCP/nurse’s inbox. Pairing a (now) relatively unglamorous type of AI with a pragmatic team-based workflow meaningfully improved this vexing aspect of care. Compare this to the more headline-grabbing efforts to use GenAI to draft responses to patient messages, which has been disappointing so far. At Stanford, clinicians only used 20% of GPT-generated drafts. These drafts did not save physicians time nor reduce turnaround time [doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.3201]. At UC San Diego, clinicians who used ChatGPT drafts paradoxically spent 22% more time reading messages/drafts and did not respond any faster [doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.6565]. Though I believe GenAI drafts will be useful one day, physicians and nurses overloaded with patient messages need help now. (We must also recognize that editing GenAI drafts is sometimes harder than writing a response from scratch). All this to say, it’s often best to pick the lower-hanging fruit first. Also, tech alone is rarely the solution. What really made a difference at Kaiser was pairing NLP labels with a practical workflow and appropriately resourced centralized (“Desktop Medicine”) team that took work off their physician colleagues’ plates. #healthcareai #patientmessaging #healthcareonlinkedin https://lnkd.in/g5ycmxGb

Most people dread opening their inbox. No wonder—the average professional spends over 3 hours daily on email, with half that time completely wasted. But email overload isn't inevitable. It's a mathematical equation we can solve. I call it the TNT formula. To reduce the total time spent on email (T), we need to address both variables: the number of messages we receive (N) and the time we spend per message (t). Here's what works: - Open up office hours instead of endless email chains - Delay delivery to slow down the email ping-pong - Tag emails by urgency ("Today" or "This Week") - Process emails in batches during scheduled times By treating email management as a formula rather than an endless task, we can dramatically reduce time spent in our inboxes. Make your inbox work for you, not the other way around.

Burnout is becoming a dangerous norm. How are you helping your people? Do you know the history of burnout? Psychologist Herbert Freudenberger coined the term "Burnout" in the 1970s after watching some of the most passionate frontline healthcare workers lose their usual spark in the workplace. The most dedicated doctors, nurses, and medical staff? They were the ones burning out the fastest. That is the all too common pattern today. The frontline workers who care most? They tend to feel burnout first. So. How do you fight back vs burnout? Its important to show your frontline employees that you are on their team. Too often burnout is addressed with a quick reply of "just take some vacation" but there are usually much deeper issues at play. Here's where I always start: 1) Acknowledge it Stop pretending everything is fine. Before pushing more updates or change initiatives, openly recognize the burnout and disruption. This builds credibility and signals you're not operating in a vacuum. Don't say: "We're excited to announce another enhancement to improve your experience!" Say this: "We know this is a lot - new systems, changing roles, and long shifts. You've been carrying a lot, and we want to make communication easier, not heavier." 2) Do A LOT less but better Frontline workers need to know the top 3 things that affect their shift, not everything happening across the enterprise. Send fewer, clearer, more relevant messages. Prioritize your "need to know now" over "nice to know" comms. You should create a comms hierarchy too. Here's a simple example: 🔴 RED: Immediate safety or operational changes 🟡 YELLOW: Important updates for this week   🟢 GREEN: General company news (send sparingly) It helps to create a recurring theme for your comms too. Think: "top 3 things you need to know this week" Then you have a pre built cap for your framework. 3) Your messages need to feel HUMAN There's nothing worse then getting a long email filled with corporate jargon that after I spend three minutes to read it hasn't told me anything. My simple rule: If you wouldn't say it? Don't send it. Bad example: "Management is implementing enhanced safety protocols to optimize operational efficiency." Good example: "Hey team, Mike here. Starting Monday, we're adding one extra safety check before shift handoff. Takes 2 minutes, keeps everyone safe. Questions? Hit me up." 4) Create space for their voice to be heard People tune in when they know their voice counts. You can launch a simple, anonymous weekly pulse with 1 to 2 questions and act on what you hear. Then close the loop by saying "You said, we did" Ex: this week's pulse: 1) "What's your biggest frustration right now?"  2) "What would make your job easier this week?" But here's the key: respond publicly to themes you're hearing. "Last week, 60% of you said scheduling is unpredictable. We're piloting 2 week advance schedules starting next month" P.S. What else would you add?

You are not responsive. You are fragmented. Being available 24/7 is not a work ethic. It is a cognitive injury you are inflicting on yourself every single day. I spent many years checking emails before my kids were awake. I thought I was being professional. My brain thought it was under attack. Here is what actually happens when you never go offline: 𝗖𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 Every notification pulls you out of focus. Research shows it takes up to 23 minutes to reload your context and fully return to deep work. If you check messages every 15 minutes, you literally never arrive. You spend your entire day in shallow mode. 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 Your nervous system needs a signal that the threat is over. When your phone buzzes at 9 PM, your body does not distinguish between work and danger. Cortisol stays high. Sleep gets worse. HRV stays flat. You wake up tired because your system never actually powered down. 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 Every message is a micro-decision. Respond now? Later? Ignore? By evening, your brain is toast. No bandwidth left for the people or projects that matter. So what do you do? You cannot ghost your team. But you also cannot keep running at this pace. Here is the protocol: 𝗦𝗲𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘄𝘀 Pick two or three times per day to check and respond. Morning. Midday. Late afternoon. Outside those windows, you are not rude. You are focused. Communicate it clearly. "I check messages at X, Y, and Z. For emergencies, call me." Most urgent things can wait three hours. Real emergencies almost never happen. 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 All of them. Email, Slack, LinkedIn, everything. Your phone should not decide when you check. You should. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 After 7 PM, work apps go into a folder you do not open. You do not owe anyone access to your recovery time. That time is where capacity rebuilds. 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼-𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 Try it. Even when you are in the office. "I respond to messages within 24 hours. For urgent matters, call [number]." You train people how to treat your time. The first week feels weird. You will worry someone is annoyed. They are not. They are just learning your boundaries. Within two weeks, your focus returns. Your sleep improves. You remember what energy feels like at 6 PM. Constant availability does not make you valuable. It makes you exhausted. Protect your attention like you protect your calendar. Because they are the same thing. What's your availability policy? Or are you still always on? If you want more like this, join The Upward ARC newsletter. Evidence-based performance frameworks for people with real jobs and real lives. Link in bio.

Getting lost in the pile of email? Email has become the bane of modern work life. The average professional spends a staggering 2.6 hours per day on email. However, it's possible to save over half of this time by following these five steps: Check email hourly instead of every 37 minutes. Disable notifications and schedule time to check email every hour. This can save 21 minutes per day. Apply the single-touch rule. Archive or delete emails after reading them the first time. Emails requiring action should be moved to a to-do list. This can save 27 minutes per day. Use search instead of folders. Searching with keywords or operators is faster than navigating through folders. Integrate email with to-do lists for easy task creation. This can save 14 minutes per day. Use keyboard shortcuts for archiving. Have only two folders: one for emails requiring action and one for future reading. Use keyboard shortcuts to archive emails into these folders. This can save 11 minutes per day. Avoid processing irrelevant emails individually. Set up filters for newsletters you read, unsubscribe from unwanted ones, and block spam. This can save 8 minutes per day. By implementing these five practices, you can regain over an hour of your workday, previously lost to inefficient email habits. #EmailTricks #Declutter #Productivity

321zero: How I Solved My Email Overload Your inbox can be a time swamp. Flagged items, “urgent” requests, important issues, mixed with a lot of noise and distraction. That changed when I discovered the 321zero system, which has completely transformed how I handle email: 😊 Check your inbox three times a day 😊 Take 21 minutes to clear it to zero 😊 Ignore your inbox at all other times The result? More focus. Less stress. A big boost in productivity. How 321zero Works in Practice You can’t get to zero if you already have hundreds of emails sitting there. So the first thing I did was move everything into an OldInbox folder. Nothing deleted, you can still search it, but your live inbox starts clean. If an email contains a real task (a report, a budget, something that needs thinking), I move it into my Tasks folder, add it to my backlog, and timebox it. I also stopped checking email before 11am, which means I now start my day with deep, focused work instead of reacting to other people’s priorities. And I no longer check email in breaks, with my family, or first thing in the morning. Before this, I used to “clear down” emails at the weekend and still rarely got below 100 in my inbox. Now? I usually only have a handful of emails sitting in my Tasks folder. And I always get to zero in my Inbox. It’s a game changer. Handling Urgent Emails Email is terrible for urgent work. If someone is in a three-hour meeting, they may not even see your message. So I ask colleagues to text me if something is urgent. My email signature even says: “If it’s urgent, please text me.” This won’t work for every role, especially customer service, but for me, response times have actually improved, not worsened. The results have been a bit magical: Fewer distractions, more focus, and time back for the work that really matters. (And yes, turn off email notifications. You can’t do deep work with constant pings.) Have you tried 321zero, or something similar? I’d love to hear what works for you.

As a CEO, keeping communication clear and productive is an absolute priority, especially when managing a busy inbox. One framework that has truly helped me is the Getting Things Done (GTD) method. Here’s why I think it’s a game-changer when it comes to organizing your mailbox: - Capture and clarify: Instead of letting emails pile up or get lost, GTD encourages you to process and categorize them systematically. This clears mental clutter and keeps you focused. - Action-oriented communication: Every email gets categorized into actionable steps. Whether it’s “Reply,” “Forward,” or “Schedule,” nothing slips through the cracks. - Prioritize the essentials: GTD helps you focus on urgent and important outreach, minimizing wasted time and maximizing impact. Driving clarity in your inbox allows you to lead decisively, stay organized, and protect your mental energy. Curious about more steps? Check out this helpful guide: https://lnkd.in/eMpwYSZE

Time for the annual inbox carbon footprint reduction purge! 💚 I find December a great month for a business information spring clean. One of my goals for this is always to reduce our cloud carbon footprint and one of the worst places for this building up unseen is in the email inbox. During the year, we have a company-wide policy to link to "attachments" rather than actually attaching them - which really helps! But it's amazing how much 'weight' still creeps in. So this is what I do... 📩 Use the Gmail search filter to find emails based on their size. 📩 Scan the results and delete any "we obviously don't need that" ones. 📩 For those at are left you might need to just delete one email in the chain - you can do that by going to the individual message and clicking on the hamburger menu for that message. That way you're left with the content of the email in a reply, and you don't lose the information - just the weight. TOP TIP to make the task bearable start with a very high number (10GB?), clear that list, then work down. That also means you're clearing out the worst stuff first. Beware you may find some very stubborn ones (where someone's embedded a super highres headshot in the first email in a chain, then everyone else has left it in their emails too... 😤) To make it easier next year... avoid attachments, and don't embed images in your emails (including footers... you know who you are!). Anyone else do this?

Your inbox doesn’t have to run your life. The average professional spends 11+ 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗮 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸 on email. That’s nearly 30% of your workweek spent on sorting, reading, and replying—most of which you don't even need to look at.  The real problem? 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗲. Every email forces you to make a choice:   - Is this urgent?   - Do I respond now or later?   - Do I archive, delete, or leave it unread?  It’s exhausting.  But what if your inbox worked smarter, not harder? AI can help:   - 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼-𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: (newsletters, promotions) so you only see what matters.   - 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀: so you get the key points in seconds.   - 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂: based on your tone and past conversations.  Tools like SaneBox, Shortwave, and Superhuman can cut email time by up to 40%, freeing you to focus on the real work that moves the needle.  In this week’s edition of 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗜, I break down some of the best tools and actionable strategies to reclaim your workday.  How much time do you spend on email each week? Curious how others are tackling email overload? 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 to spark a conversation. 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗲 for more insights, and 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘂𝗽 for my Future Proof Your Career newsletter.