The default error
The default email behaviour: items arrive, you read some, star the important ones, leave the rest unread as a reminder, and feel the unresolved weight of everything unactioned.
The inbox becomes a list of open commitments, each reasserting itself every time you open email. This is not a to-do list — it is a to-do list without due dates, priority order, or completion logic.
The queue model
An input queue has one rule: items enter and items leave. Nothing lives in the queue. Every email that enters your inbox gets one of five fates:
- Delete/Archive. Requires no action, contains no reference material.
- Reply immediately. Under two minutes; do it now, then archive.
- Add to task list. Requires more than two minutes; create the task, archive the email.
- Delegate. Forward to the right person, archive the original.
- Reference file. Contains information you will need; file it, archive from inbox.
The inbox's role ends when the item exits through one of these five doors.
Tasks generated from email belong in your task system — not your inbox. The task system has priority ordering, due dates, and completion logic. The inbox does not.
Steady wins.