From email to task: how not to lose anything you're asked for

Why requests get lost

An email can contain three things at once: information, a question and a request hidden in the third paragraph. When you read it quickly, you take in the information and the request slips past.

The problem gets worse when you use your inbox as a to-do list. You leave the «to do» emails marked as unread, and new ones arrive and push them down. Two days later, the important email is on page three.

The answer isn't to read less or reply faster, but to separate two jobs: reading the email and doing what it asks.

Three decisions for every message

When you open an email, decide where it goes before moving on to the next one. Three options are enough:

• Done. It asks for nothing or you've already dealt with it. It leaves the inbox.
• Later. You need to look at it again, but not now. Snooze it to a specific day.
• Task. It asks for an action you won't take now. Turn it into a task or microtask.

If a request can be handled in two minutes, do it and mark the email as done. If not, turn it into a task: don't leave it in your inbox as a reminder.

How to write a task that comes from an email

A good task can be done without re-reading the whole email. Three tips:

1. Start with a verb. «Send the quote to Pau» is better than «Pau quote».
2. Give it the date you were asked for, not the one you'd like.
3. Link the original email. When you do the task, you'll have the exact request, the attachments and the whole thread.

The link is what saves the most time. Without it, the task is a title; with it, it's the complete request.

Requests that don't look like requests

Explicit requests («could you send me the contract?») are easy to spot. The tricky ones are those without a question mark:

• «We agreed you'd have it by Thursday», in the middle of a meeting summary.
• «If you can send us the final version, we'll review it», at the end of a long email.
• «Let us know», which means someone is waiting for a reply.
• An attachment with a form to fill in, without a single sentence asking for it.

When you read an email, look for the verbs that involve you: send, review, confirm, tell, pass on, have ready. If there's one with a date or your name nearby, there's a request, even if the tone is informative.

When the request is for someone else

Sometimes an email asks for something that someone else has to do: a colleague, a supplier, your accountant. In those cases your task isn't to do the work, but to make sure someone does it.

Still turn it into a task, but write it as what you'll do: «Ask the accountant for the VAT return» or «Confirm that Marc has sent the sample». That way, when the other person replies, you'll know you can close it, and if they don't, you'll have the reminder to chase it up.

A complete example

One Monday at nine, this email arrives from a client: «Hi! As we discussed, here's the brief. If you can send us a proposal before Friday, perfect. By the way, we still haven't received the October invoice.»

There are two requests and a document. The decision takes a minute:

1. You create the task «Prepare the proposal for the client» dated Thursday (leaving some margin before Friday) with the email linked, which has the brief attached.
2. You create the microtask «Resend the October invoice to the client» for today.
3. You mark the email as done: it no longer needs to be in your inbox, because both requests are on the list and the email stays linked.

On Thursday, when you open the task, you have the brief and the client's exact words right beside it, without looking for anything.

Several accounts, one list

If you use more than one email account (work, personal, an address a client has given you), requests arrive through different channels. If each account has its own to-do list, you end up with three.

It's simpler to bring the accounts together in a single inbox and keep a single task list, where each task remembers which account and which message it came from.

A 15-minute review

Even if you decide on every message there and then, some requests slip through. A short, regular review, for example first thing and before you finish for the day, catches them:

1. Look at snoozed emails that are due today and decide what to do with them.
2. Check the threads where someone is waiting for your reply.
3. Go over the day's new tasks and check they have a date and a source.

Fifteen minutes a day is less than the time you lose hunting for an email that «was around here somewhere».

Where an assistant fits in

An AI assistant can help you avoid letting requests slip: it reads the email and suggests creating the task, with the date and its source linked. What matters is that it suggests and doesn't act on its own: you're the one who knows whether the request is a priority, whether you've already discussed it by phone or whether it's for someone else.

In duokim, Kim reads what you let it see and suggests replying, creating a task or scheduling an appointment. You approve, edit or discard, and what you approve can be undone.

How everything links up in duokim

Frequently asked questions

Article by the duokim team. If you spot a mistake, write to us and we'll correct it.