Why I read e-mails only 2x a day?

(re-posted from my blog archive, since it is still true)

Everyone is fighting with flooded e-mail inbox, I tried to sum up arguments for myself to keep checking e-mail only twice — after lunch and before leaving work.

a) Inbox is not my to-do list — most incoming emails are things that other people want, what is the chance that it is the same thing I want?
b) E-mail is not urgent — no sane person sends anything urgent via e-mail, why should you expect anything to arrive?
c) “Autosolve” function — a lot of things get solved before you read the e-mail, especially these days, when an e-mail is sent on average to 3 people on CCs. Give it time.
d) After office hours suck — in after-office (or pre-office) hours I do not have the option to call the sender in a matter better solved with a quick phone call.
e) Prevents chat — e-mail was not meant for chat. A lot of people miss the difference, answering e-mail after 6 hours solves this.
f) It’s not fun — why do it more often if I hate doing it?

No sane person sends urgent messages via e-mail

Additional notes:
* Grouping conversations in modern e-mail clients greatly improved point c) = you only see the last message with the solution on top
* When I start reading e-mail lets say at 1pm (after lunch), I only ready e-mail that arrived by 1pm, messages that arrive during my e-mail processing get a chance next time
* If I would have to pick just one reason of them all — a) is gold.
* If you get distracted by your inbox each time you go search for something in Gmail, try using Gmail Search add-on.

Disclaimer: NO, this does not apply for people in Customer support departments — pleeease read e-mails instantly there ☺