With one click, automate all the robotic mental exercises one goes through when faced with a big email thread in order to make sense of it. The end result is a single email , easy to read and easy to archive , with no loss of information : all repetition and redundancy is removed . An email thread comprised
of N emails can have its storage size compacted by a factor of N/2 or better. Email is a mainstay on the PC but is also still the most used application on a smartphone. Conversely, it is difficult to absorb a large thread on a smartphone due to screen size limitations.
Consider a linear 100 email thread. The first email has one entry and the 100th email has 100 entries including the first, but has lost attachments that occurred along the way. In size this thread amounts to 5050 entries [(1+100)+(2+99)+…(50+51)], so this can be crushed down to 100 entries for a factor of 50 in overall size reduction, and suppression of repeated contact information and quaint maxims typically found on chat forums will implode the size further. A nonlinear email thread still has the same Subject Line and so poses no added difficulty to the email distiller.
Goal
a) Readable forwards, not backwards. (reverse the thread order)
b) Collect all attachments in one place.
c) Retain who knew what when.
d) List participants and collect all signatures.
e) Highlight any exchanges between a subset of participants, as these may be sensitive.
f) Highlight any exchanges directly involving the distilling participant as they may be urgent.
g) Eliminate all redundancy and crush the storage space required by a factor of N/2, N being thread size.
h) An added feature, if there is access to a company GAL, is to automatically create and Org chart of all involved in the thread.
i) Bonus feature: One click “leave me out of it!” to block further emails on a thread and redirect them to a junk folder.
Advantage
1. Single resultant email: time saved due to automation
2. Single resultant email: easier to read one narrative beginning at the start and ending at the end.
3. Single resultant email for easy archiving
4. Can run utility on tablet or handheld or desktop.
Advantage to a company
1. If this saves everyone in a 10000 employee company 5 minutes/day, that saves 833 hours: this is like gaining 104 employees working 8 hour days.
File formats
1. In the Windows environment the .PST format is an open Microsoft standard.
2. Different smartphone OS’s have their own format.
3. Could be done on an email server / cloud.
Details: Example
This sample distillation chronologically breaks the thread into its components of narrative, attachments, and participants to create one composite email. As well, it highlights any exchange between a subset of participants. An option would be to highlight based upon the involvement of a particular participant. By definition this distillation is from the point of view of the person launching the distillation.
SAMPLE DISTILLATION
(derived from sample thread which follows, as seen by Alice or Andre)
Narrative “Redundancy elimination”
[9AM 2/1/2010, Joel to Betty, Bob, Alice, Andre]
Going forward, into the future, we will use this new tool in addition to the old tool.
See attachment.
Regards,
Joel
[9:30AM 2/1/2010, Alice bcc Andre]
Double Double the work work!
Into the future, going forward, down the road, at the end of the day,
Alice.
[10:30AM 2/1/2010, Joel to Betty, Bob, Alice, Andre]
I forgot to include the link…here it is. [link1]
Regards,
Joel
Attachments :
9AM 2/1/2010, Joel to Betty, Bob, Alice, Andre - > [Attachment1]
[10:30AM 2/1/2010, Joel to Betty, Bob, Alice, Andre]-> [link1]
Participants
Betty, Bob, Andre,
Alice
User1, z-corp
Joel
IT, z-corp
Sent from my smartphone (cell 519 123 4567)
SAMPLE THREAD PRIOR TO DISTILLATION
To: Betty, Bob, Alice, Andre
From: Joe
Time: 9AM Jan2 2010
Subject: Redundancy elimination tool
I forgot to include the link…here it is. [link1]
Regards,
Joel.
IT, z-corp,
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To: Alice
Bcc: Andre.
From: Alice
Time: 9:30AM Jan2 2010
Subject: Redundancy elimination tool
Double Double the work work!
Into the future, going forward, down the road, at the end of the day,
Alice.
User1, z-corp
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To: Betty, Bob, Alice, Andre
From: Joel
Time: 10:30AM Jan2 2010
Subject: Redundancy elimination tool
[Attachment1]
Going forward, into the future, we will use this new tool in addition to the old tool.
See attachment.
Regards
Joel.
Sent from my smartphone (cell 519 123 4567)