5S Guidelines for the Virtual Work Place

Email
This document is intended to provide instruction to all computer users on how to organize their email
inbox. Good organization of a user’s inbox can save significant cost and reduce stress.

Step 1: Sort
Too many unused emails crowding your inbox cause information clutter and make searching for useful
and needed information costly and time-consuming. Therefore, sort through and sort out:

1) Start by developing a personal folder system for your email. This will mimic the “tagging” system
commonly used in 5S. Here are three types of folders to consider
1) Folders of follow up, action sort. These are sorting bins that allow you to keep your
main inbox clean. These are folders where the emails are works in progress.
i. Follow-Up – emails you need to follow-up on
ii. Action – emails that require an action from you that you cannot do at this time
iii. Sort – emails you need to sort, but you are not sure where they need to go yet
2) Folder for dated archives. This is a catch-all system for retaining emails
i. Emails you’d like to retain but aren’t actively working with can go into dated
archive folders
ii. Folders can be deleted after a certain point (see your government’s document
retention standards)
3) Folders that are topic oriented. These are the emails you want to keep and may use
more actively. You can sort by whatever topics make sense for your work, but do not
make it over complicated.
2) Consider for deletion e-mails that are 2 months old or more.

Step 2: Set In Order

Organize your inbox to reduce clutter and allow for instant access. Having a standard set of rules for
dealing with emails could be helpful. Below is an example of a flow chart for how to handle email. The
four potential outcomes for an email in your inbox are:

1. Delete it. If the item is not relevant or significant to your job delete it right away to avoid clutter
(which creates confusion and may obscure the important stuff)
2. Delegate it. If there is someone more appropriate to respond to the email, forward it along
immediately in order to maintain flow. In some cases, it may be fine to just delete the email and
move on after delegating it. In other cases, you may wish to create a method to track what has
been delegated that allows you to follow up on delegated items later. A very simple method is a
“delegated” folder in your inbox that you review occasionally. A more sophisticated method
might involve placing reminder notices at appropriate points on your calendar or a “personal
Kanban” (personal Kanban adapts the well-known Lean Kanban visual management tool to
personal productivity – visit www.personalkanban.com for more information)
3. Do it. If the message concerns something you can complete in two minutes or less you should
do it right away. This maintains flow, removes clutter and potential future distraction from your
inbox, and creates good email Karma!

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4. Designate it. If the message will take more than two minutes to respond to designate time in
the future to do it based on the priority of the message and when it will best fit into your work
flow. Consider using your calendar, a document filing system based on frequency-of-use, and/or
a personal Kanban to organize your work. The action required of you from the email should then
be transferred to your personal work organization system and deleted from your inbox. Your
personal work organization system then dictates when the action required of you will be
completed and contains the necessary information to complete it. For example, your calendar
would tell you when you’d work on it and your filing system would contain any content from the
email you need to complete the task.

Delegate It

Yes

Is there
Yes someone better to
do it?
Yes Do it

Incoming Is it
Thing Inbox relevant or Will
significant? No it take 2 mins or less
to do?

No
Discard It No Designate it

Step 3: Shine
Take these steps to optimize your productivity on email and minimize wasted time

1) Unsubscribe from emails lists you don’t use or want.

2) Tune whitelists, blacklists, or other user-maintained aspect of the spam filters
3) Develop and write automated email filters / rules to route incoming messages to proper folders
without user intervention.
4) Archive sent items. This is what you said in email so you probably want to retain this.
5) Clean out you date archives to remove older files
6) Do not ask for receipts for emails you have sent, unless it is vital
7) Consider using color coding for emails sent only to you. Your email program can color code
these messages thereby drawing your attention to important items (i.e., messages from your
boss).
8) Consider turning off notifications of new emails (i.e., sounds, screen pop-ups). Uninterrupted
time on task is vital to productivity. Email notifications are a distraction. If very rapid response is
required in the office for an issue consider instant messaging (or a phone call!) as an alternative.
9) If you can deal with an email in 2-5 minutes, do it then rather than filing it.

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10) Use the preview pane to spot messages that can be deleted immediately - like notes that just
say “thank you”

Step 4: Standardize
Develop good email etiquette in order to maintain efficiency among the whole office.
1) Don’t use the priority flag unless it is necessary. It is like the boy who cried wolf.
2) Only use Reply All and CC: when needed. Don’t clutter up someone else’s email if they do not
really need to see it.
3) Use your out-of-office message to inform people of your status.
4) If messages require action from someone else, forward immediately.
5) Don’t use the inbox as a storage file.
6) Develop simple rules for addressing e-mails (i.e., rules for TO; CC; and Subject lines). Examples
include:
a. TO: Only people whom the sender of the e-mail believes must take action on this item
are put on the "TO" line.
b. CC: People whom the sender thinks might benefit from knowing the information, but
who are not required to act on the information, are on the "CC" line.
c. Subject:
i. "URGENT:” and a one-line summary of the action requested go on items which
are time-sensitive (i.e., on the critical path for an important task)
ii. A one-line summary of the action requested is the subject line for items which
are not time-sensitive (i.e., can be done within two business days)

Tip: Create a document retention guide that is unique at your workplace. Set recommendations for
keeping/deleting e-mails.

Step 5: Sustain
Allocate 5 minutes a week to run through the 5S’s on your inbox. A specific time should be allocated in
your calendar to keep your inbox working environment in tip-top shape.

1) Set a time in your calendar to repeat the 5S Email tasks

2) Consider doing occasional 5S audits of office, where everyone participates in a check to ensure
5S standards are adhered to.

Remember, 5 minutes can save the effort you spend to search through unnecessary clutter! Studies
show that you can use your computer twice as efficiently if you organize it well!

Tip: If you have trouble keeping your inbox (mostly) empty, your system may need tuning.

Sources
Sources: Bhavnani, Suresh, and Bonnie John. "The Strategic Use of Complex Computer Systems."
Human-Computer Interaction 15.2 (2000): 107-37.

IT Managers Inbox (http://itmanagersinbox.com/1637/use-a-5s-system-for-your-email/)

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 5S Guidelines for the Virtual Work Place
Lean Consultant, Graham Ross (http://www.leankaizen.co.uk/5s-your-computer.html)

Self-check sheet

5S Email Audit
Auditor(s): 5 or more problems, enter 0
3 or 4 problems, enter 1
2 problems, enter 2
1 problem, enter 3
0 problems, enter 4
Category Activity Date: Date: Date:

Sort 1. A folder system has been created

2. the main inbox is empty (or almost)
3. Old emails have been archived or deleted

Set-In-Order 1. Emails moved to Follow-Up, Action or Sort

folders
2. Emails moved to Date Oriented Folder
3. Emails moved to Topic Folder
Shine 1. You have removed yourself from email lists
you don’t use.
2. You have tuned user-maintained aspect of
the spam filter
3. You have developed automated routing for
common types of emails
4. Archived files are removed as needed
5. Email notifications are disabled
Standardize 1. No overuse of priority flag
2. No overuse of CC
3. Informative subject lines in use
4. Inbox not used as a storage file
Sustain 1.Individuals take the time to check that they
are staying with 5S
2. Participatory office-wide audits are
conducted
3. Improvements are made from the last
audit
Overall

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