Years ago, when I was working in libraries, I had the chance to read David Allen’s Getting Things Done.  The impact of that book took a while to really sink in and combining that with Inbox Zero a few years later I was on my way to a GTD system.  Unfortunately after a good year or so it began to fall apart for various reasons.  Now that I’m back to a fresh start, here are some of the tools and tips I’m using to stay on top of things.

The Tools

  • Outlook 2007 – Email & Calendar.  Also syncing to my Blackberry, though I have been leaving my Blackberry on silent a lot lately.
  • Remember the Milk (RTM) – This guy I sit next to uses it very effectively.  Now I am using it too (not so effectively yet).
  • White boards and camera phones.  I don’t think we have put anything on a white board that did not end up in a picture that is translated to tasks, Visio diagrams, or a document.

The Process (For Now)

Everything goes to my inbox in Outlook.  I try to read my email in dashes and clear out the junk, respond to the quick ones and defer the rest.  Anything actionable from email goes to my inbox in RTM.  Within RTM I’m trying to start weekly and daily reviews where I push tasks from the inbox to their respective lists (Home, Work, Store) and assign due dates.  Each day I pick a few tasks from each list to complete.  Currently the Home tasks seem to drag on longer than the work ones.

RTM has a host of keyboard shortcuts that make working with it fun.  For instance, click on a task, press ‘d’ and start typing a new due date.  Hit ‘c’ and mark it completed.  In addition, the syntax in RTM is handy, typing “Call Mom Tomorrow #Home” in the task description adds a task to call mom, due tomorrow, to the home list.  Very handy.

Other Thoughts

I find that working with a team on a focused iteration is really helping this process.  Previous attempts would break down because of fire fighting or “emergencies” that would come up.  Dealing with constant fires is a sign of several things (which we will not detail here) and really hampers your ability to guard your attention.  Those environments require a lot more discipline to really execute a GTD system well.