Today I discovered I really, really want the ability to rename the subject line of any e-mail in my inbox to something that makes more sense to me (without having to create a new e-mail via forwarding or such). The problem stems from my tendency to keep actionable items in my inbox until I don’t need them anymore. It would be nice to look and see at a glance why those things are lingering there. Some days I just can’t decipher the intent behind some of these titles. Sheesh, people, what does “Re: Status of NY Workflows on PreTest02″ supposed to mean to me after a long week? It was, I discovered after opening it again, a list of servers where I can check the results of a CMS workflow deployment. I got a little angry about that.

Anyway, the first suggestion that leaps to mind is to train people to write better subject lines. Tell them about productivity and respecting their co-workers’ time, etc. They’ll change…for a while…as long as someone is hounding them about it, but who’s to say what’s the best headline? What makes the most sense for each individual who has to look at it, especially if they have to keep it for a while? Folks save e-mails for different reasons…audit trails, todos, education, performance management, etc. So I say them the power to rename things. Give me the power. Give it to me today. Make those suckers editable.

Anyone from Lotus Notes listening?