Get a Nudge About the Email You Meant to Answer

A muse connected to your email can learn, from the messages you have sent in the past, which kinds of emails you usually answer, and then nudge you when one you would likely want to answer has been sitting unanswered.

What it does

Most inboxes already have flags, stars, and snooze buttons. The problem is that you have to remember to use them, and the email you meant to answer still sinks under newer mail. This works the other way around. The muse reads your sent mail and builds a picture of your real habits: who you reply to quickly, which subjects you treat as important, and which messages you let go. Then it watches the inbox against that picture. When a message matches the pattern of mail you normally answer and no reply has gone out after a while, the muse pings you about that one message instead of handing you a giant list. Ask it to repeat the learning pass regularly, so the picture stays current as your contacts change. It is normal if a helper reading your sent mail sounds like a lot. You choose which accounts to connect, you can review or delete what it remembers, and it never sends the reply itself. It points, you decide and you write.

How to use it

1. Connect the email account you want watched. Start with one account, not every account you own.
2. Ask the muse to study your sent mail and tell you, in plain words, what it learned about the kinds of email you usually answer.
3. Correct anything it got wrong. If it thinks you answer every newsletter or ignore a person you actually value, say so.
4. Set the nudge rule: how long a likely-to-matter message should sit before the muse pings you, and how it should reach you.
5. Ask for a monthly refresh of the learning pass, so new contacts and habits get picked up.

What you need

• A muse account and an email account you are willing to connect
• The learning pass works from mail in the account, so there is nothing to set up by hand

What to watch for

• The first picture will be imperfect. Expect a few nudges about mail you never intended to answer, and a few misses, until you have corrected it a couple of times.
• Do not let the nudge replace your judgment on sensitive threads; a message can match your pattern and still be one you are leaving alone on purpose. Tell the muse, and it will stop raising it.