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My Ubiquitious Capture System

I recently had an interaction on Facebook with a fellow member of the GTD group regarding my productivity tools of choice, which lead to some discussion regarding the “ubiquitous capture device,” which David Allen recommends as part of the GTD process to all you to clear your mind, capture your thoughts so you can make sense of them and then decide if you need to put them into action.

I have a number of productivity tools that I use, none of which qualify as my ubiquitous capture device individually but all led themselves to my ubiquitous capture system. At the center of my system is my laptop, which is where all of the ultimate pieces fall into place. My tool set is as follows:

• Outlook 2007 is where I store my action list and electronic inbox. Since most new actions result from e-mail or at least in the office this is the best way for me to store most of my data.
• In addition to Outlook I have a Blackberry Perl which is connected to my corporate account via Blackberry Enterprise Services (BES) and allows me to sync my Outlook data over-the-air which includes my e-mail, contacts, calendar, tasks, and notes. This extends all the data from my desktop to any location making context oriented tasks more meaningful—like @Phone could occur at any time since I have my tasks and contacts with me at all times.
• In addition to my local Outlook and Blackberry I sync my calendar to the internet using Google Calendar Sync and share my calendar with my wife and a number of personal contacts. This is helpful for two reasons:
  • My personal contacts can review my calendar prior to calling me during the day because they will know if I have scheduled meetings or appointments. Since syncing my calendar online the number of telephone disruptions has dropped immensely during meetings.
  • I strongly believe in keeping one calendar for both personal and professional purposes, since my personal contacts can see my calendar they will know if I am available for social activities. Additionally, since my wife plans many of our family social events she can ensure my schedule is updated for critical events—no more scheduling golf outings at the same time as my children’s birthday party. <grin>
• Beyond the data that gets captured into Outlook I also use my Blackberry as a personal voice recorder to transcribe thoughts and notes on the run. There are frequently times when paper simply isn’t available or would be dangerous to use (like while driving) and I can capture my thoughts and transcribe my notes and action items into text later.
• In addition to the other tools I have a three-ring binder with personal stationary and dividing tab that I carry nearly everywhere. I found that capturing notes directly into a computer during meetings is frequently too distracting so I capture notes in hard copy which I transcribe to my laptop (flesh-out ideas, pare down invalid thoughts, capture next actions) where I can easily retrieve the data or use it within my execution processes.

In addition to the tools above, if my Blackberry dies or for some reason I don’t have it I will often use either my cell voice mail or work voice mail systems as additional voice capture devices. In the past (pre-Blackberry) this was far more frequent than it is now but it is worth noting as an option for readers without the benefit of the technology.

Finally, while I have discussed my capture devices I would be remiss if I failed to mention that I use Microsoft Windows Search to index the contents of my laptop and retrieve information. Details are in a previous blog entry.

I have found that this suite of tools works well for me to capture, prioritize, and execute the various priorities that arise.

Technorati Tags: Blackberry, Getting Things Done, GTD, Productivity

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