The term was coined by productivity expert Merlin Mann in 2006. Mann's point is that time and attention are finite, and productivity suffers when an inbox is confused with a to-do list.  What is the Inbox Zero approach to email management? - TechTarget According to Mann, the zero isn't a reference to the number of messages in an inbox, but rather "the amount of time an employee's brain is in his inbox." Mann's point is that time and attention are finite, and productivity suffers when an inbox is confused with a to-do list. techtarget.com Inbox Zero Method: How to Inbox Zero in 15 Minutes - Superhuman Blog Oct 31, 2023 — What is the Inbox Zero method? Coined by productivity expert Merlin Mann, Inbox Zero is an email management strategy aimed at keeping your inbox empty. Or as empty as possible, at all times. The goal: triage your inbox quickly to reduce clutter and manage emails effectively. Superhuman Blog What is Inbox Zero – Definition, Example, and FAQ - Mindmesh Popularized by productivity guru Merlin Mann in 2006, inbox zero advocates for an empty or nearly empty inbox. It focuses instead on the most important and urgent emails. Inbox zero uses sorting tools and filters to eliminate unnecessary items — archiving and keeping only the important emails. mindmesh.com (function(){ (this||self).Bqpk9e=function(f,d,n,e,k,p){var g=document.getElementById(f);if(g&&(0!==g.offsetWidth||0!==g.offsetHeight)){var l=g.querySelector("div"),h=l.querySelector("div"),a=0;f=Math.max(l.scrollWidth-l.offsetWidth,0);if(0<d&&(h=h.children,a=h[d].offsetLeft-h[0].offsetLeft,e)){for(var m=a=0;m<d;++m)a+=h[m].offsetWidth;a=Math.min(f,a)}a+=n;d=Math.min(e?f-a:a,f);l.scrollLeft=e&&p?a:e&&k?-a:d;var b=g.getElementsByTagName("g-left-button")[0],c=g.getElementsByTagName("g-right-button")[0];b&&c&&(e= RegExp("\\btHT0l\\b"),k=RegExp("\\bpQXcHc\\b"),b.className=b.className.replace(e,""),c.className=c.className.replace(e,""),b.className=0===d?"pQXcHc "+b.className:b.className.replace(k,""),c.className=d===f?"pQXcHc "+c.className:c.className.replace(k,""),setTimeout(function(){b.className+=" tHT0l";c.className+=" tHT0l"},50))}};}).call(this);(function(){var id='_StdsZa-bFNXSkPIPkcqykAk_9';var index=0;var offset=0;var is_rtl=false;var is_gecko=false;var is_edge=false;var init='Bqpk9e';window[init](id,index,offset,is_rtl,is_gecko,is_edge);})();

"Zero inbox" is an email management strategy that aims to keep your inbox as empty as possible. The goal is to triage your inbox quickly to reduce clutter and manage emails effectively.

Setup a recurring Zoom meeting for set times every week where you guarantee to be present. As much as possible, when people send you an ambiguous request or initiate a conversation that will require a lot of back and forth, point them toward your office hours schedule and tell them to stop by next time they can to discuss. It’s a simple idea, but it can reduce the number of attention-snagging back-and-forth electronic messages in your professional life by an order of magnitude.

I currently inhabit four professional roles: writer, teacher, researcher, and director of graduate studies for my department. For each of these roles, I set up a Trello board that includes a column for: things I’m working on actively, thing I’m waiting to hear back about from someone else,  things on my “back burner” that I’m not yet ready to tackle, and  a list of ambiguous or complicated things that I need to spend some time on figuring out. Every email I receive immediately gets moved to one of these columns in one of my Trello boards.