I have not blogged about how my GTD setup is working and evolving lately but I actually have been making changes. Just to remind folks that my original goal is still the one I am using. Basically:
I want to have a very easy to manage GTD setup using no additional tools or software besides Outlook 2007, my company’s Exchange 2007 server, and my Windows Mobile device with PocketInformant on it.
I actually must admit to wandering a bit and trying additional software which spells out doom for me. But in the end, the workflow has remained but I worked a bit on how I stage my projects in Outlook. Here is how my Geeky Zen to Done thing works now:
Step 1 – I do weekly/daily reviews of things over coffee in the mornings and have a method I like to quickly grab actions. For me, I use OneNote 2007 to catalog things that blur by. I can quickly map these things to Outlook tasks by doing SHIFT-CTRL-5 that need to show up there. I have Outlook 2007 running then with only a few action contexts including @Work, @Errands, @Personal. I have a second task file which is called projects with additional fields that let me name a project, list the tasks, enter resource names for assignments, and I link the projects to OneNote files which then give me a whole bunch of leeway to the brainstorming, definition, and personal delivery mechanisms.
Step 2 – Throughout the day, I get email which requires an action. I grab the email with a right click and drag it to the tasks icon and create a new task. These often have word, openoffice, excel, or powerpoint files attached. I then assign the new task to one of my few action contexts. If I can do the thing in 5 minutes or less I do it. If it takes me longer or its delegated, I also have a @Waiting For action that it goes to. This has meant that bunches of stuff just “gets done” that before I procrastinated on. Yay!
Step 3 – I have my Windows Mobile Device set to show the tasks which is handy and I also use it gather up notes when driving somewhere. The notes end up in OneNote though. There they become tasks or brainstorming or free-form things.
Step 4 – I save all completed tasks by marking them “complete”. I rarely delete a task.
I created additional fields for my “projects” task file which include additional project derivative information. Note that I use a web-based tool called Redmine to actually manage the projects with a team at a task level. This is actually my own project requirements, notes, definitions, etc.
So how does it work and will I continue? I’m not sure. This seems like a bit of work to me but I still enjoy the methodology. If I get tired of the method, I most likely will quit and use some other application or approach. Its gonna take me a month or so of seeing how I like it. My first impression is that classic GTD is a lot of work before you can move to the getting things done level. It means a lot of preparation, thinking, marking, writing. Then perhaps you ready with a blank mind to start. I never can achieve that blankness. Thoughts proliferate and I can never just stop. So classical GTD fails me every time. This geeky Zen to Done thing is more flexible and it seems to work. The final thing will be for me whether it really helps or just adds more time to the management and not the doing.
Time will tell.
