Many people blame their inability to respond in a timely manner on the demands of their job. But the truth is that the real reason they’re struggling is because they’re not managing their email well. 

One of the biggest culprits is Outlook, the most widely used email client in the world. Despite its popularity, Outlook is not designed for the way we work today. It’s cluttered, hard to navigate, and does not provide the tools we need to manage our email efficiently. As a result, people spend hours a day sifting through their inbox, trying to find the information they need. 

This is where LeanMail comes in. We’ve developed a method for managing email that is based on the principles of Lean Thinking. Our method is designed to help you reduce the amount of time you spend managing your email, so you can focus on the things that matter. 

Our software, LeanMail, is specifically designed for Outlook users. It provides a simple and elegant solution to...

I can imagine being on the other end of being asked to send in the “snow” – your empty inbox at the end of the day with 0 to prioritize, 0 to plan and 0 Today. On first glance, this request may seem a bit over the top. I get it.

If you still feel that way after reading this, then, by all means, feel free to stop, but hopefully, this will shed some light on exactly why we request snowmails, and why exactly 20.

First, you should know that we call them snowmails because the objective is to have lots of white (snow) in your inbox.

Second, I want you to know that this service is for you. It actually takes up quite a bit of resources to monitor “the snow”, but we do it because our experience tells is it’s a game-changer.

Third, it might be helpful to know that before we started requesting snowmails many years ago, the level of adoption of our customers was just a little over 50%, and puzzlingly enough it didn’t matter how excited a...

It was time for new glasses.

My girlfriend, at the time, insisted.

So that weekend we sauntered into the Synoptic store on Strandvejen in swanky Hellerup to buy some cutting edge spectacles from Steen, the sophisticated salesman there. The chosen pair turned out to be Danish designer stainless steel trifocals with lots of scientific reasons for why my vision would improve so as to be on par with Superman's, and why they would cost as much as an Apple computer.

I collected my new gear a week later.

The case, consisting of a pristine white leather outer and a fitted black velvet cushioning inner, while impressive, fell a bit short of justifying the exorbitant price of its contents. Nevertheless, I plopped down the cash - bushels of it, and sauntered, nose in a slightly higher trajectory than when I entered the botique – as one does in Hellerup, and out into the world.

The only problem was that everyone on the street was much blurrier than when I had entered.

My heart sunk....

1. Sort:

In the Prioritize view, Delete, Archive, assign High or Normal priority. Do this quickly like dealing playing cards. Answer mails that take less than 10 seconds. When you are finished sorting, your view will change to Plan. 

2. Straighten:

Now that the waste is removed, non-actionable emails are archived, and emails needing action are prioritized according to the Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule, add Next Actions (NA’s) and Due dates (When) to put everything in its proper place. Do this deliberately, concentrating on creating brain-hooks by ensuring that the “What” clearly describes what you need to do (avoid generic terms like read, follow up, call, act on, etc.) Do not forget to act upon anything that takes less than 2 minutes. When you are finished sorting, your view will change to Today. 

3. Shine:

Review what you have in front of you today. If NAs are...