Archive for December, 2008

A good calendar is an assumed GTD prerequisite, isn’t it?

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

When you first start digging into GTD, most models assume that you already have a working, reliable calendar.  You have one, don’t you?

In a talk that David Allen gave a Google a while back, he told the audience that in their time together, none of them were thinking “Where am I going to be a week from Friday at 3:15?”.  The reason is because they trust that system.  They know that their calendar is updated and referenced frequently, so they’ll be aware of any items on their agenda for that day.  That’s what GTD tries to do with the rest of your life.

If you can get all of your tasks into a system, and your mind can trust that you’ll access the system often enough to avoid letting things slip through the cracks, then you can free your mind from worrying about those things.  It’s a beautiful thing.

I don’t think it’s worth getting deep into calendar specifics, but make sure yours is solid.  Most of you have a system that you use and trust, and that’s great.  However, if you’re looking for some ideas to improve your system, I’ll lay mine out and maybe you can get something from it.

  • Google Calendar.  Solid system, accessible from anywhere, easy to share data with co-workers, friends, etc.
  • SaiSuke for iPhone.  It’s $10 (though there is a free test version as well) and it does a great job of syncing itself to your Google Calendar.  Very handy when you’re on the go.
  • Nozbe and Toodledo.  I’m going back and forth between these two programs (more about that in a later post), but both can push your time-sensitive tasks directly to your Google Calendar, or a variety of other calendars such as iCal.
  • Jott.  You can Jott items directly to your calendar.  It’s slick, though I really don’t use it for that very often.
  • You can also SMS items directly to your calendar.  Send a message to 48368 (“GVENT”) with something like “meeting with sue tuesday at 3″ and it’ll put it on there for you.

The other key is to reference it often.  When I’m at home, I leave a browser open with tabs for Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Reader always open so they’re available for quick access.  Other tabs alongside them come and go, but those always remain.

Any other tips for making the best use of your calendar?

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How I handle my 616 Google Reader feeds

Thursday, December 25th, 2008

I’ll admit it — I’m an RSS junkie.  My Google Reader list currently has 616 feeds in it, and that’s actually down a bit now that I’ve spent some time removing items.  Most of these are very useful — follow new comments on my blogs, find new material for my blogs, keep current on new technology and SEO ideas, etc.  I also like to grab the comments RSS feed on blogs when I leave a comment and they don’t have e-mail notification available (why do sites do that?) so I can follow up with other commentors.

However, the problem is pretty obvious.  616 feeds generate a LOT of items every day.  Like most things GTD, the highest efficiency comes when you can get it to zero as often as possible.  The concept of “inbox zero” has been huge for me, and I’ve always tried to maintain “Reader zero” as well.  So how do I do it?

Skim. I know what kind of stuff I’m looking for, so I browse quickly.  When I’m on my computer, I can use the “j” key in Reader to jump to the next item.  I’ll burn through a lot of them pretty quickly.  Sites like Digg generate 99% garbage, but I keep it in there for the rare gems that come through.

Keep it at zero. This is critical.  It’s overwhelming to have 1000+ unread items, but it’s not so bad to have 150.  Try to zero it every chance you get.

Star important items. This follows the basic GTD itea of collect/process.  I don’t deal with any items while I’m going through the list.  I may read a few sentences to see if it’s worth digging into, but I don’t read any long entries while I’m clearing the list.  If an item is worth looking at later (blog spam to clean up, SEO idea to read about, idea for a blog entry to write) I tag it with a star in Google Reader.  Other RSS readers likely have similar options.  When I’m done, if time allows, I’ll start working through the starred items.  As I finish each item (read it, blog about it, whatever) I simply un-star it and it disappears.

Read on the go. The iPhone version of Reader is excellent.  It’s simple, but it gets the job done.  I can peruse items, star them, and mark them as read.  David Allen talks about trying to maximize the little blocks of space in your life, and this is a BIG way I do that.  By reading and starring items thoughout the day, I have less to dig through at night and I can start actually working on the items of interest.  Again, other readers and other phones will likely allow this to happen too, but I love the Reader/iPhone combo.

Google Reader - Time of DayUsing the “trends” feature in Reader (shown to the right), you can see how my reading pattern tends to go.  I get completely caught up first thing in the morning (between 6-7am), then just maintain throughout the day.  By the evening when I get to work, I have very little reading that needs to be done.  This allows me to actually work during my available work time — novel concept!

Any other tips for keeping up with your RSS deluge so you don’t get buried?

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Posted in Managing Information | 2 Comments »

Don’t try to put everything into your GTD system

Saturday, December 13th, 2008

One of the mistakes I made early on was trying to put everything into my GTD system.  While I agree that you need to put 100% of your tasks/projects in it to make it work, I was trying hard to squeeze all of my reference data in there too.

The biggest problems were business cards and bills. When they land in my inbox, how do I deal with them in GTD-style?  The simple answer: I don’t.

Business cards never become a Next Action, nor do they get sorted in my filing cabinet.  When I have to process one, I simply add it to my Windows Address Book (which syncs with my iPhone), and put them in a particular desk drawer.  I could probably throw them away, but I like to keep them “just in case”.  Once the information is in my phone, I always have access to it and it’s a great place for that kind of reference material.

Another example are our bills.  While it would be ideal to take two minutes to pay each one when they arrive, that’s not always possible for financial reasons.

I considered listing them in my GTD system and then putting the bills in my file cabinet, but I decided against it.  I already have a nice bill-holding wooden thing on my desk, so I just continue to use it.  When new bills come in to my inbox, I open them and decide whether to pay it right then or not.  If I decide not to pay right away, I put them in the bill holder.  I’ve made it part of my weekly review to go through all of the bills in there, pay the ones that need to be paid, and at least be aware of the due dates for the others.

So that’s your tip for today.  Don’t stress about putting everything in your GTD system.  Just make sure you have a system in place to deal with everything to help yourself continue to have a “mind like water”.

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Posted in Bill Paying, Processing | No Comments »

How I get things done.

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

For a while, I was feeling more and more squeezed.  I was picking up more and more projects, but I was beginning to have a hard time keeping track of everything.  I use an iPhone, so I figured “Great!  I’ll just find a great to-do list that syncs with the phone and use it to stay on track.”.

I tried a variety of packages (including the excellent Zenbe Lists), but none quite did what I wanted.  I eventually found Nozbe and thought it was great, but it used that silly “GTD” method.  They posted a few video tutorials about how their products fits in with GTD, and I was hooked.  I immediately went out and bought David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” book, dove in, and took off.

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing, but it’s certainly made life much easier.  I’ll be posting some of the tips and tricks I’ve found, and probably pose some questions from time to time as well.

If you have any tips to share, or if you have GTD-related questions you’d like answered, please contact me and I’ll be happy to help!

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