Keep track of what you owe people across Gmail and Slack
Unread counts don’t tell you what needs you. A simple way to keep one list of replies you owe, answers you’re waiting on, and things you promised, across email and Slack.
If your work runs through Gmail and Slack, the things you owe people are split in two. Inbox zero says nothing about the Slack thread where someone asked you a question yesterday, and a quiet Slack says nothing about the customer email from Monday. Unread counts make it worse: most unread messages don’t need you, and the one that does is often already read.
Track what you owe, not what’s unread
What matters is a short list of obligations, wherever they came from. They come in three kinds:
- Replies you owe: a question addressed to you, in email or Slack, that you haven’t answered.
- Answers you’re waiting on: a question you asked that nobody answered yet.
- Things you promised: in a meeting, a thread, or a call.
Everything else (newsletters, FYIs, threads you’re copied on, channel chatter) can wait for when you have time, or never.
A setup that works without new tools
- In Gmail, star or label anything that needs a reply as soon as you see it, and archive the rest.
- In Slack, save the message for later or set a reminder on it, instead of leaving it unread to remember it.
- Twice a day, at times you choose, go through the starred email and saved Slack messages together, most important first.
- Write down what you’re waiting on and what you promised in one place you’ll actually look at.
It works, but it depends on you doing the triage every time a message arrives, in two apps, which is exactly the part that slips on a busy day.
Order it by who’s waiting, not by when it arrived
Newest first is the wrong order for a list of obligations. Put first what someone is blocked on, then what has a deadline today, then the quick replies you can clear in a minute each, then the rest. A short list in the right order is calmer than a long one in the wrong order.