[chriscatoya]

Generally, it’s helpful to follow the 80/20 rule and time-box whatever you’re willing to allocate per week and no more. Do this and only the most valuable things rise up. People have a funny way of filling up the time they’re given, so constrain the allotment.

epc’s advice on limiting and gatekeeping your time availability is a good one. Also, keep in mind that long email back and forths are micro-meetings and avoid that trap whenever possible. A piece of advice I got as I was running five teams was: “Do you ever see executives answer these emails? No, they just have the conversation and they’re done with it.”

Setting time budgets for meetings and gatekeeping your availability means “No” is your friend. Used well results in focus. I find it helpful to consider urgency and importance as the criteria for prioritization.