The 4 D’s of triaging can help anyone get ahead on their emails or task list.

1. Do
2. Delegate
3. Delete
4. Defer

DO

If the item requires you to take an action and that action can be done in five minutes or less, then take that action immediately.

DELEGATE

If the item requires an action, but you feel someone else is the appropriate person to take that action, then delegate the action to them.

DELETE

If the item is completely useless, hit delete and move on.  If you get nervous about deleting, then move it to an archive folder/list.  The important part is stop giving it your time and attention, so you can move on quickly.

DEFER

If the item requires you to take an action, but none of the other 3 D’s apply, then defer it until you can focus on it.  Move it to your task list or set a reminder somewhere that you need to come back to it.

Additionally sometimes we come across information that we may need to reference later.  This becomes an action that you again are going to apply the 4 D’s to.  If it is going to take less than 5 minutes to move into your reference system, do it then.  If you can delegate to another person to move it into your shared knowledge base, take that action.  If it has to be done by you, but you need to rewrite or restructure the information, defer it to later.  And finally if you don’t really need it, then just delete and move on.

Take the 4 D’s for a spin the next time you go through your inbox or your task list and see what a difference it can make in your productivity.