The use of email

I have been thinking recently about our use of email and how not much has changed in the last ten years.

We still sometimes use our inbox as a surrogate "to-do" list.

We still keep email in our Inbox that should have already been actioned.

We don't have any markers on the email to show how important the sender is, or how important it is to take action on the email.

I am thinking of an email system that will highlight email based on things like:

1. How long you have looked at emails from this sender in the past (ie how much attention you gave these emails).
2. Whether you replied to emails from this sender in the past. How many words you used in your replies in the past.
3. How many people received this email, whether you are in the To:, Cc; box

Once I have my concepts clear I will start to code a Microsoft Outlook addin to put some of these concepts into practice.