Microsoft released a prototype plug-in for Outlook today called Email Prioritizer. The product addresses a much needed feature gap in Outlook: the lack of *true* prioritization.
The idea is pretty simple - "priority" as currently defined in Email-speak is an option set by the sender (high, normal, or low) that indicates to the recipient how important the email is. The obvious problem with that is senders are notoriously bad at actually gauging how important an email is to the recipient, so the concept of priority only takes into account one dimension. Microsoft's solution introduces a separate dimension. 1 to 3 stars are assigned to a given email based on a set of rules and meta-data. For instance, and Email from my boss automatically gets 3 stars (the highest priority), while an email from a random person will probably only get 1. Additionally, the software allows you to "pause" incoming email for a set amount of time, hopefully giving you a chance to catch up.
I'm happy to see Microsoft finally taking Email overload more seriously. I say this a lot, but Outlook was really designed for a time when we were getting 10 emails a day, not 100. Do I think Email Prioritizer goes far enough? No. First, I believe stars are too simplistic a way to prioritize. A low priority Email might be that way because it's purely informational (or, a purely informational email may be high priority if it's in response to a question one asked). Also, while I think the pause button may be useful in certain cases, most people will still hear their phone go off, negating any positive mental effect. There's probably a better solution.
Subscribe