Comments on: Bonus Post: How the World’s Most Famous Computer Scientist Checks E-mail Only Once Every Three Months

By: Jeremy Leader

Jeremy Leader — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:18:37 +0000

I think the key here is making a conscious choice. Knuth has consciously chosen his approaches to email and other forms of communication that work for *him*. Don’t get hung up on the details of what works for him, follow his larger example by thinking about what will work best for *you*. Just because your email client can make a noise or pop up a box to alert you to new messages, or your phone has a ringer, or “everyone else” works or communicates in a certain way, doesn’t mean that you should just blindly let those things rule your work day.

By: Enough Wealth

Enough Wealth — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:47:34 +0000

I agree with the comment that telephones are an even bigger interruption and time waster. I let my phones (mobile and landline) go to voicemail (unless I’m bored and want an interruption). I have to check my email a couple of times a day at work to stay abreast of issues (and get urgent requests from my boss), and I check my home email once a week as some of my bills are sent via email (you don’t have the option of snail mail).

By: Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links - 15th March 2009 - DIGTD - Making You More Productive

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:08:19 +0000

[…] first link for this week is a post about Email Zero! - We have all heard of Inbox Zero, well how about Email Zero!. This is a post that outlines what an […]

By: Emma

Emma — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:09:34 +0000

Knuth is a great guy. And this seems so like him. Nice exploring, even though I don’t feel like this applies to students.

By: Brandon Pearce

Brandon Pearce — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 00:23:07 +0000

The telephone is much worse interruptor than e-mail. You can ignore e-mail until you want to check it - as long a you have notifications turned off. But phone calls come with a loud ring and must be instantly addressed. Talk about an interruption! Unless you’re solely using voicemail, e-mail is far superior for avoiding distractions. It also leaves a trail of the conversations which can be helpful. I’m working on eliminating the telephone from my communication (haven’t used it for 5 weeks now!).

By: Matthew Cornell

Matthew Cornell — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:50:58 +0000

Great article!

By: Study Hacks

Study Hacks — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:11:04 +0000

As much as you have to respect Knuth, anyone who has a “real” job won’t be able to get away with checking email no less than at LEAST once a day.

Or at least, anyone with a real boss. These types of systems tend to work for academics, writers, artists, entrepreneurs, and others who don’t have a boss to report to (or, as the case may be, fail to report to because they didn’t get the e-mail.)

While I appreciate the efficiency, the whole idea of turning an email into a printed PDF is a complete waste of resources and counter to the purpose of electronic media in the first place

That was just me thinking out loud. Don’t get caught up on the printing, clearly, you can create such documents without having to print anything.

Well he has (!) an E-Mail address and he communicates with this, so it is not zero at all.

Well, his only real e-mail addresses are for reporting bugs or asking questions about his books. These could just as easily be a form on his web page, but he’s not likely to waste time building something like that. The key is that basically all of his normal communication occurs via phone and snail mail.

You can’t claim you have a time hack by not doing something when you’re just having someone else, in this case his secretary, do it.

Not quite true. He doesn’t use e-mail. His secretary doesn’t use e-mail either. She sorts his snail mail.

By: Study Hacks

Study Hacks — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:00:22 +0000

On the other hand… having a VPA who checks email daily, sorts it, answers the obvious, forwards the urgent or more important, WOULD be an ideal timesaver.

Tim Ferriss (supposedly) has his VPA actually call him an leave a voice message summarizing the most important messages; which is an interesting twist. (I guess because he’s often away from computers?)

‘First, these are specialty addresses. “tacop” is…’
S. hould be “taocp”. Unless you meant Taco Pee.

Charge: 1 Hexadecimal Dollar.

Good catch. You can send the invoice to my inbox. I’ll get back to you in 3 months.

By: Monika

Monika — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:27:41 +0000

Well he has (!) an E-Mail address and he communicates with this, so it is not zero at all. Show us somenone, who really does not use an e-mail address nowadays and communicates with thousands of people worldwide and who has no secretary!!! Than it would be zero!

By: Hank

Hank — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:57:08 +0000

Post bug:

‘First, these are specialty addresses. “tacop” is…’
Should be “taocp”. Unless you meant Taco Pee.

Charge: 1 Hexadecimal Dollar.