Use the RAFT Technique to Quickly Sort Emails.
To effectively manage your email, you need focus. You need a plan. You need acronyms . One such acronym is RAFT, which will literally help you stay afloat in the sea of emails you receive every day. You can combine it with others, like LIFO and 4D , to maximize its benefits, but first, you need to understand how to use it on its own.
What is RAFT Email Management System?
The acronym RAFT stands for the following:
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Read
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Act
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File
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Garbage.
It’s simple! With this management system, you first read the email, then respond to it as needed— if necessary—before either saving it somewhere or deleting it. That’s all there is to it, but it works because it requires you to focus on each individual email and immediately assess the situation to ensure nothing is missed.
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Like the one- and two-touch rules , this rule requires you to open emails immediately after receiving them. For me, this is the hardest part because it’s a habit you have to develop. This approach reminds me of a more universal productivity technique I often use: the two-minute rule . When you think about something or are asked to do something, do it immediately. Again, this is a habit you have to develop, but I like this approach for a variety of productivity tasks—and with RAFT, you have a clearly defined sequence of next steps after you open an email.
How to get the most out of RAFT
To get the most benefit, combine this method with one or two other systems. For example, you can combine RAFT with the LIFO (last-in, first-out) method , which prioritizes responding to the most recent emails over older ones. This way, you’ll always respond to the most urgent needs, rather than endlessly trying to catch up. If something from the past is truly important, you’ll receive a follow-up email, and then you can use RAFT. Otherwise, focus on the most important recent messages: read them, respond to them, and then delete or file them.
When it comes to action, you can use the tried-and-true 4D method . The four Ds stand for delete , do , delegate , or postpone , and they represent four actions you can take with any email. (Delete is redundant here, as “trash” is part of RAFT, but it’s helpful to emphasize that unhelpful emails should be deleted.) Either do what the email says or delegate it to someone who can, but ensure the process moves quickly. If you don’t end up forwarding the email, delete it or postpone (archive) it. The main rule of RAFT is that you should do something with every message, not ignore it.
When it comes to organizing files in RAFT, make sure you have a good file system in place beforehand. If you use Gmail, consider using labels as a more organized archiving system to make everything you decide to save more accessible. You can tag these mini-archives by date, project, or any other search method you find convenient, but be consistent to avoid filing away all your processed messages.