1. http://three.sentenc.es – A philosophy that almost every email can be three sentences. I try to always send them and when I receive an email if it is longer than three sentences, I delay it’s review. People get the picture.
2. I try and manage as much of my communication via Teambox, Twitter, Facebook and now begrudgingly Plus. With the streams and more advanced manners of communication, I get more done.

Since I deployed these efforts my time spent on messaging dropped from over 4 hours a day to less than 1.

And thank you for the “urgent” example. I’ve seen this abused over and over and over when a quick brief expecation statement like “can you fix this by the end of today” or “how long will it take to do this” would help coordinate timelines and manage expectations.

Personally, I think the key to keeping email as clear as possible is to utilise the available technologies as much as possible – playing to their strengths and avoiding their weaknesses.

For instance, I do not subscribe to any email newsletters. If I want updates from a webesite, I subscribe to their RSS feed – it is instantaneous, skimmable and isolated from my email through Google Reader.

Notifications, where possible, I switch off. If they are needed, I create an Inbox Rule/Filter to skip the Inbox proper and archive them immediately.

What I am left with are emails which are really emails.

And even then I reduce them by using the good-old telephone for quick conversations rather than run the risk of a rambling email back-and-forth. If needed, after a call, I email the other contact a summary of the agreed points to ensure there is a paper trail, accountability and a shared record of the outcomes and expectations.

Don’t work harder – work smarter.