Yesterday, we shared a great article by L.V. Anderson about typos in email and what they say about power dynamics in the office. The gist is this: At best, informal, typo-ridden messages sent from the top of a professional hierarchy to the bottom reflect the fact that bosses aren’t particularly concerned about coming across as sloppy to their subordinates. At worst, they’re a deliberate power move—a signal to junior staffers that they aren’t worth the time it would take to correct the mistakes in an email before hitting send. The whole article is worth a read, but here I want… Continue reading R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Find Out What It Means To Email

Yesterday, we shared a great article by Sara Stewart called “Inbox Zero is BS”. If you’ve been with us for awhile, you’ll know that, at Timyo, we couldn’t agree more. Ms. Stewart argues persuasively against the pointless, productivity-sucking waste of time that is the pursuit of Inbox Zero. As per a researcher quoted in her article: “When someone drops everything just to get an unread count back to zero, productivity might be taking a hit.” And, as the author herself points out: “Having an empty inbox has zero effect on your salary. You’re not getting paid to erase emails all day…”… Continue reading Why Timyo Is the Ultimate (Guilt-Free) Inbox Zero Killer

We’ve talked a lot about how Timyo helps you use email to be more productive, but one of the subtler effects of Timyo is also one of my favorites, and it all comes down to the psychological effect known as “priming”. What is priming? Priming is a psychological effect that basically boils down to preparing someone to give a certain response or type of response by influencing them before that response is given. A famous example is a study that showed that people were more likely to behave “warmly” (that is, positively, welcomingly or sympathetically) if they were asked to briefly… Continue reading Priming for Success: How Timyo Sets The Tone for Productive Email

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” —Leonardo da Vinci* It’s no secret that Steve Jobs was a big fan of simplicity. In fact he used the above quote (or misquote, see footnote) to introduce the Apple II, way back in 1978: That focus on simplicity has been an essential component of everything Apple has done in the past 40 years, and surely one of the most important factors contributing to their unprecedented success. From Timyo’s inception, we have sought to emulate that relentless focus on simplicity. Not only in terms of design, but also in the very essence of the product… Continue reading A Simple Solution for Sophisticated Email

A Thought Experiment Indulge me, if you will, in a thought experiment that will (I promise) lead to an insight into exactly what is wrong with the email status quo. For the purposes of this thought experiment, please assume that you have a) a home, b) a kitchen, c) some dirty dishes, d) a husband or wife, and e) some out-of-town friends named the Petersons, who are f) really just a lovely couple. Supposition f) is not strictly essential for the success of this thought experiment, but you might as well treat yourself. Now, imagine you are at home in the kitchen doing dishes and your… Continue reading The Email Status Quo is So Inappropriate