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1. Never delete any business emails. Instead, file them in subfolders. By filing the emails in subfolders you will be able to quickly sort them by sender, or by date, and from there you can use them as documentation. And, do not forget to archive everything. Finally, make sure that you back up your archive folder to CD. This is especially important if you are leaving the job.
2. Make sure that everyone you officially correspond with is in your Outlook Contacts. Outlook doesn’t add them automatically like other email programs. In order to do this, you right click on the senders name and select “add to outlook contacts”. You can then edit the contact and add phone numbers, physical addresses, etc at your convenience. You only need to do this once.
3. Get a receipt for delivery and receipt of every email you send. File them in the subfolders as well. To do this Go to the menu and select the following: Tools > Options > Email options > tracking options. Delivery receipts prove you sent the email. Read receipts prove that the email was opened on the recipients computer.
4. Use Outlooks Journal to keep a record of conversations, telephone calls, meetings, etc. Go to new > journal entry to open the form. Fill it out. In the lower left corner there is a field for contacts. You select the contacts that the journal entry applies to. You can select more than one. Save and close. Don’t forget to include your Contacts and Journal entries in the auto archive settings.
5. Get it in writing whenever you can. IF the boss says, “From now on do this.” send him an email restating what he said and ask a question to get him to expand on it. A good one is “Dear Mr. Bossman, You said in the meeting that from now on we would take lunch from three to five. What are the exceptions for this new policy?” What this does is force the boss to take ownership. It also establishes a paper trail with your question, the date/time, receipts, and his response (or lack of).

If he answers verbally instead of by email: Go to your sent items folder and find the email you sent. Drag that email and drop it on the journal icon. That will automatically create a new journal entry. Add your comments about what was said at the top. Add the contact data at the bottom. Save and close.

Quick Tips:

One Journaling option will track the amount of time you spend working on documents. Go to Tools > options > click on Journal Options. You will see options for things the journal will automatically track. Very handy if you wish to track the amount of time spent composing articles etc.

IF you open a contact by double clicking on it you will see some tabs. Click on the “Activities” tab. Then make sure that “All Items” is in the drop down box. It will show everything you have on that contact to include emails and journals.

You can immediately create recurring appointments and tasks for a daily work list. If your boss sends you a task with a deadline you can simply drag his/her email to the task or calendar sections and drop it. It will automatically create a new task or event. If your task or event is one that is part of the routine, like a weekly meeting or report, click the recurrence icon and you can schedule it to automatically update your calendar or tasks.

Tasks allow you to make a “things to do” list. You can then assign tasks to others and require progress reports. Open a new task and click the “assign task” button. It will add a “to” line and you select the person from your contacts.

Conclusion:

By implementing these rules and quick tips you will quickly master your time and protect yourself. This will lead to better productivity on your part and ensure that when a crisis occurs your part of the crisis is documented.