Dropping the ball to remain productive: Top tips for coping with emails

Scott Hanselman has written a post, shared by the wonderful Glen Davis, with a wealth of ideas around how to manage your email...and your ever growing to do list. One of the key things for me were the the "Four Ds" that Hanselman uses (from David Allen's Getting Things Done manual):

• Do It
• Drop it
• Delegate it
• Defer it

The 'drop it' one looked particularly useful, and Hanselman encourages the practice of 'dropping the ball'. He writes that "though this sounds irresponsible, this will lead you to feel better about yourself as you'll be better able to focus in on your work rather that juggle responsibilities". In the post he offers some suggestions around how best to drop the ball without miffing the people with whom you work!
Glen notes that Hanselman's post "summarises quite well some of the key strategies for getting on top of email and being productive". He then goes on to say that "Of course reading this email, and then reading the following post will destroy your productivity goals for the next 15 minutes!"
Hanselman's post in full can be found at "Complete List of Productivity Tips".
Image: 'No Strings' . http://www.flickr.com/photos/21981149@N04/3336227189. ;Found on flickrcc.net.