Email Bankruptcy!

Alex and I recently traveled for ten days, and only replied to urgent email. Upon our return, we spent a good part of this week sorting through pending email.

Here are three suggestions, in increasing severity, that might free you from email administrivia and any guilt associated with knowing you are getting buried by email while you sleep:

1. Batch your email time. Let everyone know that you will only check email twice a day, at specific intervals.
2. Take a Sabbatical. You might want to reserve this one for Harvest. Let your contacts know (use autoresponse) that "...due to Harvest, there is a possibility you may never reply to your email. Please call my mobile phone to discuss urgent matters: (xxx) xxx-xxxx."
3. Declare Email Bankruptcy. Lawrence Lessig (a well-known internet visionary) in a now famous note, coined the term when he declared: “Dear person who sent me a yet-unanswered e-mail, I apologize, but I am declaring e-mail bankruptcy.” He noted that he had spent two work weeks sorting through unanswered email, and determined that he would not be able to catch up.

I'll let you guys know if Alex stops responding to my email. :-)