If we’re gonna have an honest discussion about email, we need to get a few tough truths out of the way first. Think of ’em as ground rules for the conversation we’re about to embark on:
Email is atrocious. It’s a soul-sucking hell-hole that steals hours of your day and never lets up.
Most modern email tools fail to create a fully effective framework for navigating the deluge of email we busy professionals find ourselves facing on a daily basis — a truly inspired system for taming the madness and keeping our inboxes organized (ideally while keeping our sanity at least somewhat intact).
Email is also unavoidable, and when handled properly, it can be an absolute asset for practically any business or professional purpose.
Now, if you don’t agree with any of those points, let me save you some time: This article isn’t for you.
But if you find yourself nodding along in agreement, congratulations: You’ve come to the right place. I, too, drown in email on a daily basis. I, too, spend far too many of my working hours (and sometimes also my allegedly non-working hours) wading through email. And I, too, am an eternal seeker of that elusive inbox utopia — the mythical environment that makes even the most active inbox manageable and maybe even (gasp!) enjoyable to master.
A company called Superhuman claims to have cracked the code. Superhuman has technically been around in some form for almost a decade, but you’d be forgiven for failing to notice — or maybe even for reading about it at some point and immediately writing it off. Up until recently, after all, it was available only on an invite and waitlist basis, and it lacked full cross-platform support.
But those restrictions are now no more. Anyone can sign up for immediate access to Superhuman, and with the service’s recent addition of an Android app in addition to its native Windows, Mac, and iOS offerings and all-purpose Chrome-based browser interface, it’s available anywhere you want to be.
And man alive, lemme tell ya: If you’re drowning in email like I am, it is definitely deserving of your attention.
The Superhuman email experience
Before we dive into the details of what Superhuman’s about and what it can do for you, it’s critical to consider some quick caveats about the service — ’cause this really isn’t your typical email client:
First, as we alluded to a second ago, Superhuman is not for everyone. If you’re more of a casual email user or someone who doesn’t live in your inbox for work purposes, it probably won’t make sense for you.
Second, as of now, Superhuman is compatible only with Gmail or Outlook accounts. If your email doesn’t go through one of those platforms, it won’t work with this service. (I’m focusing primarily on Gmail for the purposes of this article, by the way, but the same concepts apply in both domains.)
And third, Superhuman ain’t cheap. The service costs a cool $30 a month — or $25 a month if you pay for a full year at once. (That same…
2023-09-23 23:24:03
Link from www.computerworld.com