White’s of Henry Lane

I didn’t actually get tagged with the Fours meme, but I had it mailed to me. Pretty much every feed I’ve subscribed to has included it as well. And on a Friday after a company party when you’re waiting on the green light to promote some code fixes, you’re inclined to say its the same thing.

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A little less than a year ago, I wrote about a simple technique in Outlook that I’ve employed to simplify my email management. The technique is more social engineering than technical solution. In short, I suggest sticking agreed-upon keywords at the front of your subject line, and then setting up a rule to autosort them. The post has been very popular, and a number of folks asked me to explain exactly how to do this. This is that long awaited post.

This hack will be orders of magnitude easier if your company uses a docket system to track client work. My employer uses a system of three letters that are remiscent of the client’s name, then three digits for the project. So let’s say we’re doing some work for Brewsley Brewing Corp. We might have dockets like this that we charge our time against:

• BRU 101: Define and Discovery phase, consumer site
• BRU 102: HTML email newsletters
• BRU 103: Investor relations site redesign

The first step is to get everyone to agree to prepend [BRU 101] to their subject line. If you can’t make this happen, you aren’t totally out of luck. If you just stick that in the subject line yourself, you’ll be able to at least capture responses to your mail. But this is most useful if you can get everyone to agree to use this technique.

The next step is to create a folder for either the client (if its a low volume project) or the docket. Once you’ve done that, create a rule for each docket code that routes the email from your inbox to the appropriate folder. If you need help with this, you can check Microsoft Assistance’s “Create a Rule”.

At the very minimum, move the message. I like to also clear the new message notification, but maintain unread. I also do this with a set of rules that automatically flags the project managers from whom I get the most tasks as “Follow Up”. This gives me two quick ways of seeing what’s been dropped in my lap, and ensures that my inbox stays clean. This also gives you far more control over when you address your mail. If you’re not booked on a project, don’t open that folder.

One of the questions I was asked was “do you have to do this for every docket”? Unfortunately, yes, with the default rules wizard there are no regular expressions options that would allow you to capture the docket string, and use it for the destination folder. It seems to me, though, that there should be a way to do this with VBA. There is an article at Windows IT Pro with code that allows you to automatically move items marked “Important” to a folder which might work as a basis, if anyone is interested.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Along these lines, I’d suggest everyone check out this comment at Slashdot. The rest of the thread is a real corker, too.

UPDATE: I’ve caught some flack for this post, and rightly so. Despite two decades of life online, and getting caught in dozens of flamewars, it still escapes me from time to time that people can’t see the wry grin on my face as I type. I’m coming off as pretty anti-American, and I can see that, and it wasn’t my intention. The bit at the end about not wanting to be American stands, though. I want to be Canadian. If I wanted to be American, I’d move there. Since I don’t want to be American, and the web sites won’t let me be Canadian, I’m choosing Europe. You see, I still spell it “colour”.

I don’t get too steamed up about American sites that ignore the fact that the North American continent actually has three countries in total, not one. Its pretty standard, and you chuckle, point out that Americans see the world as “us, the French, and the people we’re bombing,” and you move on.

It does bug me, though, when I go to the Apple Canada store, and read that the new iPod Radio Remote “supports FM stations from 87.5 to 107.9MHz (in both the US and European standards)”. Radio here in the forgettable frozen north also covers the same bands, guys. You’re the Canadian Store, you should know that.

Some day, maybe, Canadian web sites for Yank companies will get some proper operating budgets. Until that day, I guess we’re European. I sure don’t want to be American.

The Australian comedy group Tripod sing a song that will ring true to everyone who’s ever said “we’ll leave in a sec, hon, I just need to get somewhere I can save my game.”

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I had an opportunity to complete my first foray into microformats today: my contact data is now available as an hCard.

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The title of this post is not entirely true. I was pretty keyed up when I bought my Qualcomm QCP phone with a five-line display and a rudimentary WAP/WML browser. At that time I was my then-employer’s “wireless expert”, and was really milking that status. Generally, though, my list is short: is phone, has data cable accessory for phone book export.

However Motorola has finally dropped a phone I want at CES, and its the ROKR E2, the iTunes phone redux. It has exactly all the features I’ve had in my secret dreamphone bullet list:

• plays MP3s
• 1.3MP camera with flash
• takes SD (I’m really trying to move to SD cards for all my devices so they can share memory)
• Bluetooth and USB2 connectivity

I have a Pocket PC running NetFront and PIE with the SPB extensions, and open wireless access points are plentiful in Toronto, so the inclusion of Opera isn’t a really big deal for me. However the PIM, Opera and Linux in the back end mean this phone might even make it as a PDA. I’m really hoping for the day I can get my Gameboy Micro, cell phone, iPod, passable digicam and Axim all in one device for about CDN$400. (On an unrelated note, its time for me to update my What’s In My Bag photo for Flickr.)

I’ve come back from a self-imposed web blackout to discover that I’m the featured desktop for December 29th over at the phenomenal Lifehackers site. This isn’t the first time that I’ve made it on Lifehackers. Gina has even been so kind as to send such interesting people as Clive Thompson my way for some great chats. I think the majority of my referrals now come from Merlin at 43folders.com and Gina et al at Lifehackers. I’m no crack programmer, and had despaired of making some tool that helped people squeeze an extra ounce of Things Getting Done from their day. The fact that I’m getting noticed and seem to be sparking some conversation on respected sites is very gratifying. So if you’ll excuse the gushiness, thanks Gina, Merlin, and everyone who’s taken the time to visit my site and mull over what I have to say. This is the push that I needed to recommit to White’s of Henry Lane.