More e-quiet tips

The day of going e-quiet (in my case, Wednesdays), I check email in the morning usually between 08h00 - 09h00 in order not to miss any urgent emails.  I find more and more people are initially 'struck by the novelty' of picking up the phone and are happy to call. I'm dealing with people across North America (and Asia) but most of them have long-distance plans so there's little or no cost to the call.

Before going e-quiet for the day, some tips

The day before going e-quiet on Wednesdays, I send people who have appointments that day a quick re-confirmation and mention they can reach me ahead of time by phone or Skype if need be.

People ask why I chose Wednesday & more on going e-quiet

Wednesday just happens to work best for me. A lot of people might choose Thursday or Friday. It depends on whether you deal with people overseas. These days I'm finding so many people are overloaded by their Inbox they don't really digest written messages completely, even if the note is only a couple of lines.  In many cases it's a lot more efficient to just pick the phone and speak with someone. 

Managing expectations on email response time

Letting colleagues know you're looking at going e-quiet one day a week is the key to success. Putting something on your email signature helps.  It's also good to say you're still available by phone or Skype.  (Or, wonder of wonders, if they're in the same office, to actually walk over and speak in person). 

It's not easy to stick to an e-quiet day but makes a big difference

It's not easy at first to go completely e-quiet for a full working day. I look at what's "gathering" in the Inbox and if there's something really time-sensitive, will reply. The key is to make sure people understand you're still available, just preferably not by email.  My regular email signature says "e-quiet on Wednesdays but available by phone or Skype."