Hi,
"Followup message" is (arguably) the best CC feature, however, I believe there may be scope for further improvement to this.
Situation: I am a Project Manager and regularly CCd (i.e. FYId) on myriad emails, being exchanged between staff or staff & client (etc), that clog up my inbox. I am talking specifically about emails that are asking questions or in any way require follow-up from the 'To' party (or as applicable).
As some of these emails are relevant to project tasks, I need to track (or monitor) them to ensure that they are 'taken care of' (or GET the required answer/follow up).
Current Approach: At present, I am using the 'Threaded' view (with group by topic) to monitor these i.e. as soon as another email on the subject is received, I file the last one. I then either (a) track/monitor or (b) action (which could be filing) this new email.
Suggested Change: Perhaps CC FollowUp feature could be enhanced to create FollowUps tasks from these emails that clog up the Inbox.
Minor Risk: One minor risk that I see here is that some recepients tend to change the subject as they are replying to an email, however, at worst this would flash up a followup task which I could easily open & Complete. The root concern would still be addressed here.
Stretch Suggestion: Taking this suggestion forward, this could be looked into for creation to FollowUp tasks from any folder - In my view, Sent Items (or topic folder if youa re saving sent messages to the topic) would be the prime candidate where one accidentally forgets to set a FollowUp in the first place.
I'd be keen to hear what others think about this or if this has previously been considered.
Regards,
Nitin Malhotra
Melbourne, Australia