Robert Scoble often writes about his growing inbox.  Here is a letter to him with my 2 cents.

Dear Robert,

I would email this to you, but your distaste for your growing inbox is becoming legendary. 

That said, you always reply to my emails and are easy to reach on the phone.  So, why an open letter?  Because we are both fans of open communication.  Plus I thought calling you out would be more fun. 

So, back to your growing inbox.  I can only guess that you often find that you miss opportunities by not getting to your email.  And, good intentions aside, you don’t get back to people as quickly as you would like.

So, here is some free advice:

Get a personal assistant.

Now, I don’t mean a personal digital assistant.  Those are just toys (um, I mean important professional tools) and I’m sure you have several.  I mean an actual person who can do the following for you:

• Keep your calendar;
• schedule your speaking engagements;
• schedule the ScobleShow and your involvement with other PodTech programs;
• and, of course, read your emails, perform triage, and respond to them.

This might seem like a luxury; I know you work for a startup not for Microsoft.  But, I’ll bet people are trying to connect with you now more than ever before.

You probably don’t need a full time assistant, but could share one with the other talent / executives at PodTech.  I also hear that you can outsource this role internationally (or get a partial one).

Sure an assistant would take some getting used to.  Someone else reading your mail?  Sure, it sounds distasteful, but my bet is it would make your life easier and fast.

What do you think?

P.S. Should I have written this letter to John Furrier instead?

Public disclaimer: Robert owes me an email.  😉