Your day to day
Logging in only once a week
Not everyone lives in here. Whoever logs in on Fridays needs to see something different from the daily user.
Some people work in here every day and some log in on Friday afternoon to see how things are going: management, someone from another area, whoever covers quality alongside three other jobs. The inbox is built for the first group, which is why the second open it, see forty items and close it.
What each one needs to see
| Profile | What helps them | What is surplus |
|---|---|---|
| Logs in daily | What changed since yesterday | The totals, which they know |
| Logs in weekly | What is stuck and what is due | The detail of what is going fine |
| Logs in monthly | Three numbers and the exceptions | Almost everything else |
| Only when something happens | A direct link to that thing | The whole inbox |
Important
What makes someone stop logging in is not lack of time: **it is opening the inbox and not knowing where to start**. Forty unranked lines read the same as none, and by week three that person is asking things by phone — precisely what you were trying to avoid. For occasional users, order matters more than content: what has stalled first, then what is due, and what is going fine need not appear at all.
What to set up for the occasional user
- 1
A saved view with what is stalled and what is due
The first thing they see on entry, not something to hunt for.
- 2
A summary that reaches them by email
Many will not log in; let the information go to them.
- 3
And direct links in the alerts
An alert should land on the exact item, not the home page.
Watch out
Beware the natural reaction of sending more alerts to whoever logs in least: **if someone does not log in, they will not read twenty emails either**. What works with those profiles is the opposite — one message a week, with three things, and nothing at all if nothing is unusual. A summary that always arrives, even when all is well, stops being read just like the inbox that got closed.
When the occasional user is the decision-maker
Worth knowing
If someone logs in so rarely that the screen needs explaining every time, perhaps they do not need to log in: they need their part delivered to them. That is a design decision, not a training one.
›Should I give them extra permissions so they do not get lost?
No: they get lost through what they see, not what they cannot.
›What if they return after a month away?
Start with overdue and stalled; the rest can be skipped.
›Is a view per person worth it?
Per profile, not per person: three views cover everyone.
A real case
The situation
A manager logs in on Fridays, sees forty unranked lines and stops logging in.
What you do
- Gets a view with what is stalled and due, plus a weekly email summary
What you get
They check in weekly again and stop phoning to ask what was already on screen.
The situation
Somebody who logs in once a week finds eighty changes and does not know where to start.
What you do
- Turns on the weekly digest instead of the daily one
- Starts with what is waiting on their side
- Leaves the informational for last, or for never
What you get
The weekly visit pays off in twenty minutes rather than a morning.
The situation
An expiry is missed by only logging in on Mondays.
What you do
- Configures the warning with enough lead time
What you get
The warning arrives even without daily logins.
The situation
Notices pile up unread between visits.
What you do
- Groups the informational ones into a digest
What you get
What requires action stands out.
The situation
A supplier waits six days for a reply.
What you do
- Shares the urgent items with somebody who logs in daily
What you get
The outsider does not wait a week.
The situation
You log in weekly and review everything.
What you do
- Uses a saved view of what matters
What you get
The visit starts where it should.
This article answers
- I log in rarely and get lost
- catching up after a week
- too many notifications piled up
- occasional users