Ever heard of "declaring email bankruptcy"? When I first did, it sounded like a joke, but I've since learned from its practicioners that if anything, it's a serious method to start anew during stressful times.

I get too much email, and spend 1-2 hours a day on it. That's better than the 2-3 hours I was saddled with nearer to the beginning of this year. If I were to break it down, 6/10 of that time is spent replying, with 3/10 of it allocated to reading, and the final 1/10 is sorting (and related organizational tasks). If a couple an hours a day doesn't sound like a lot, consider that in addition to email, there are a number of other major communication areas which I have to hit up and read & reply to, such as the Issue Tracker arising, and inworld itself.

To paraphrase one wiser than I:

"Context is king, context is queen, and convenience… is the kingdom."

Speaking of that — I get many IMs, an unhappy proportion of which are incomplete ("hi are you there") or incomprehensible. I've noticed a sharp rise in direct IMs ever since Help Request went away. Since I generally can't reply to them, I continue to make the first line of my profile a reminder to see my Web tab for very good reason.

What gets priority when I do reply? Obviously, project-critical things sent by fellow Lindens, and really juicy info — like solid bug reports and kewl places to visit inworld — from Residents. I also highly rank personal correspondence only I can answer, like inquiries 'bout my video tutorials and Torley textures. Eclectic ideas which aren't your everyday dinner topics, such as more effective ways to use Second Life postcards, are also welcomed. In short, if it's:

  1. well thought out
  2. directly relates to my job focuses (also listed in my profile)
  3. not already answered somewhere like the Knowledge Base, and
  4. affects/will affect a lot of Residents

it's much more likely to get a response.

I generally don't forward emails to other Lindens upon request anymore. Unfortunately, that and other "it'll only take a few secs x 100s" became too time-consuming. I do believe, however, that we should have a public "Who Does What" list to better communicate exactly that. Until then, read Lindens' profiles so you can distinguish between an xtreme bug hunter and a marketing guru, and see the Wiki's Office Hours page.

I also can't do much with account-specific issues. These are best within the care of Support. Related:

There was a time when the Grid was much smaller and I liked to jump in and assist where possible, but we're continuing to hire good people who are better-equipped to assist than I, and I'm already backlogged on a long tail of issues to keep up with. Also keeping in mind that when I help someone, their friends and friends of friends hear about it and all contact me to request help — it's very flattering and of course I WUV TO MAKE YOU SMILE, but… not scalable. So again, the "if you want more of me, find superior cloning technology" mandate holds true.

I've started to read David Allen's Getting Things Done, which I just received in the mail from my  terrifitastic Mentor, Robin Harper (Linden). This week, I'm also doing spring cleaning on my computer and reorg'ing for efficiency. Yoz Linden let me know about a desktop JIRA Client designed to save time, and I'm giving Copernic Desktop Search a go too.

It's an ongoing challenge, keeping pace with growth while connecting personally! This is just my take on it, but I wanted to share to give you a clearer idea of what I deal with daily @ Linden Lab.

Got productivity tips 'n' tricks? Please let me know in the comments, thanxies. :)