Triage before coffee
One filter, two labels, three folders. The 8-minute setup that quietly handles 80% of inbound noise so you can read the real ones first.
Most “inbox automation” advice is a 40-step Notion template. Skip it. Here’s the morning tip:
The 8-minute version
- Pick the two label categories you actually act on. Not five. Two.
For most operators that’s
leadandtask. - Write one classification rule per category. Plain English. Three lines max.
- Route anything else into a
lowfolder you’ll sweep on Friday.
That’s it. You don’t need a model to do the work — you need a model to sort the work so the humans can do it.
Why this beats fancier setups
Because the fancy setups break and you lose trust in them. A two-label triage that’s right 92% of the time and visibly wrong the other 8% is more useful than a six-label system that’s right 97% but you can’t tell which is which.
Trust comes from being legibly wrong, not from being right more often.
Try it before lunch. Tell me where it breaks.