As part of my Getting Things Gone process I use the Flag for follow-up function in Outlook to identify messages I need to respond to at a future date. In the past my macro would simply place them unscheduled in a folder called “Follow-up” and I would need to schedule them and categorize them later. I have replaced this process with a new Quick Step that I call “Flag, categorize, and move” which does exactly the name describes. When I select a message and click on the Quick Step I am prompted to categorize the message and then it is moved to the “Follow-up Issues”. I use categories to identify the follow-up context, like @Phone or @person name to trigger my follow-up when it is relevant.

Using this technique I could have just as easily prompted for a follow-up date but I choose not to add the additional step for every item I move.

You will also notice that I have two Quick Steps entitled “@Paul” and “@Julio” which are based on the “Flag, categorize, and move” except the automatically set the category to the proper context. These are two of the most common follow-up categories so I chose to make click options to speed up the process. I have purposefully chosen not limit the number of Quick Steps to minimize clutter and decision making when I am filing and managing my inbox.

Reader question: How would you use Quick Steps to make managing your in-box more efficient?

Technorati Tags: Blog, Business, Clients, Getting Things Done, Google, GTD, life hacks, Lifehack, Mail, Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft Outlook, Outlook 2010, Quick Step, Servers, Windows

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My first and most prominent observation is Office 2010 hasn’t changed that much from Office 2007. There is nothing earthshattering and nothing shocking, like the transition to the ribbon in 2007, and this is great news for those looking to upgrade! The biggest change is the ribbon is now ubiquitous, including Outlook, and it is used rationally and sensibly in Outlook to make the software easier to use.

Equally important to the lack of major changes in the software is the fact that the file formats have not changed from Office 2007 to Office 2010 so in my testing it is fully backward compatible with my coworkers running the prior version. This point has made it much easier to make the transition individually without worrying that I won’t be able to interact efficiently with my coworkers.

Among the biggest changes to Office 2010 was an overhaul of Outlook which makes it much more intuitive:

• Microsoft transitioned the menu from the traditional menu that was still in use in Outlook 2007 to the ribbon that became the standard in most other Microsoft Office applications on the same. For those who are running Office 2007 this is an easy transition and it simplified the menu layout so more functions are displayed in the menu context.
• Another great function that has been added to Outlook is the “Quick Steps”. This is a wizard driven macro builder that is similar to the mail rules but is intended to run “on-click”. One of the most popular blog posts on my site is Outlook Macro: Flag and Move Message to Follow-up Folder and Quick Steps allowed me to eliminate the need for code and quickly enhance the functionality of what I was using the macro to accomplish. Without a doubt I would say this is the single most powerful feature added to Outlook.
• The second most helpful function I have found in Outlook is the implementation of “Conversations” within the folder view. This is similar to grouping a view by subject in earlier version but the feature now allows you to consolidate a conversation regardless of which folder it appears within. By using conversation you can easily consolidate the never ending e-mail strings that frequently fill out inboxes into a single view only showing the most recent—this allows the user skip the messages leading up the most recent without looking at the interim messages.
• As a fan of using “Getting Things Done” and making my storage process simple I have become a fan of using full text indexing and search features in Outlook and Windows I have found with Outlook 2010 the way that the search functions are organized they are more intuitive to use and find information.

After my first week of use one of the questions that come to mind is, “Is the upgrade worth the money?” My response would need to be, “It depends.”

I would say that if you are a power use of Office, or more specifically Outlook, it is probably worth the upgrade to take advantage of the new Outlook functions. This is especially true you are a GTD’er who uses flags and categories extensively. As radical as the suggestion sounds I find the new functions in Outlook would likely pay for the upgrade alone.

The next question that comes to mind, as an IT executive, is, “Is a corporate wide upgrade worthwhile?” My response would need to be, “It depends.”

In my experience the average corporate user is not a power user and doesn’t use their tools effectively to begin with—in fact the average user probably doesn’t extend their use of Outlook beyond e-mail into the contacts or calendar functions. If you have already made your corporate standard Office 2007 most uses will not find the upgrade compelling enough to bother but Office 2007 and Office 2010 are very close in functionality, look, and feel so they can probably live happily in the same environment. If you have not yet upgraded to Office 2007 the upgrade may be worthwhile since Microsoft has proven the ribbon (one of the single most disruptive changes in Office 2007) is here to stay for at least one more version.

The bottom line for me is the verdict is still out if Office 2010 is worth the upgrade for the average user or average company currently running Office 2007 since very little changed on the surface.

Technorati Tags: GTD, Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft Outlook, Office 2007, Office 2010, Outlook 2010, review

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Among the concepts they cover are:

1. Reduce the number of places you read e-mail
2. Let some e-mail pass by
3. Reduce the number of places you manually file messages
4. Process your e-mail using the 4Ds
5. Reduce you to-do list to once list
6. Work in batches
7. Use good judgment when sending e-mail

While these topice aren’t uncommon GTD sources the Melissa MacBeth does a great job refering each topic to a how-to.

Technorati Tags: David Allen, Getting Things Done, GTD, Mail, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, Time Management

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In the past I have written about GTD techniques and my ubiquitous capture system and from the beginning I have noticed a shift in my methods and techniques.  This week I had a bit of an “ah ha moment” when reading a blog post entitled “File Under: Miscellaneous“.

The problem with the Old World

In the tangible world of wooden desktops, filing cabinets, and hanging file folders (I hate those things!) data capture and retrieval takes a lot of forethought.  In my own hard copy files I have a section for Project (major heading) and then a folder for each project (minor heading) I also have a section for hard copy Purchase Requestions that have been returned from my purchasing department.  This all appears organized and easy to file and retrieve documents but after a couple months of use (maybe less) you will find a dilemma–where to I store a purchase requestion related to Project X?  Now I need to consider a set of rules to handle this consistently.

These indexing and referencing problems become more challenging with much larger collections.  Have you ever considered asking why most libraries divide them fiction collections by authors name and their non-fiction by subject?  What happens when I want to find a vampire romance novel?

These are problems in the tangible world because I can’t have the same hardcopy in more than one place at a time.

Breaking the Paradigm in the Digital World

When I first started building my electronic capture system it was based on my hardcopy process.  Identify information, move it to relevant folder, and retrieve it based on my working knowledge of the system (where do I put my project related purchase requsitions?).  This worked well, at least as well has the hardcopy systems that I was already working with.

A couple years into using my capture system I discovered indexing tools I could use to index and search the contents of my desktop like Copernic, Google Desktop, and Windows Search.  Each of these tools provides an efficient desktop index that will allow full text search of the documents stored in your computer and when utilized in conjunction with the extended properties if a document (i.e. keywords filed in a Microsoft Office document) can all you to quickly find relevant data in any indexed folder.

This shift from a directory based system and process is no different than the world experienced when they moved from the early version of Yahoo! (remember when it was a directory not a search engine?) to Google.  The world recognized directory based systems scaled very poorly the outbreak of the Internet, on a micro level this is what many of us managing electronic capture systems learned.  The more data you have, the more referential relevance you have, the more you need to run an index based retrieval process.

The paradigm shift has a little bit of overhead (quite literally some processor overhead to maintain the indexes) but once you embrace the concept most people will recognize there is much less effort involved with an index based system.  While I personally choose to maintain some documents in hierarchal folders, like dividing reference documents from projects, to allow me to archive them once they are no longer active other document types, like e-mail, just get moved from the in box to an archive folder.  I no longer need to put much mental effort into sorting because it is easier to just search for the information I need when I need it.

Consider the impact of this shift in much larger reference systems, like a library.  Google Books epitomizes the strength of full text indexes, consider the search for “ubiquitous capture system getting things done”, I can quickly pull up some relevant passages from the text I want to review and reference.  This method would allow me to concurrently store my non-fiction novels both my author and subject making it much easier to find the Twilight series when I want to read vampire romance novels.

By embracing index based systems I made my storage system as simple as possible and never sacrifice the ability to retrieve information much more quickly than my former directory bases system.

Technorati Tags: David Allen, Getting Things Done, Google, Google Books, GTD, Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Search, Search Engines, Web search engine, Yahoo

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Like many on the Internet I have been a devote GMail user for a number of years and have grown to love the fact that it allows me to store gigabytes of e-mail on-line. Of course with this much content it becomes unwieldy to find just the right e-mail without mastering a couple of search skills.

The most important thing a GMail user can learn are some of options available for advance search and how to combine them to narrow your selection.

Advance search simply refers to combining keywords in a structured way to allow the Google search engine to operate that way the user intends. For example, instead of simply typing “John” and hitting search you can qualify the message with “from:John” or “to:John” to get only the messages that were sent from or to John. The first sample will include all messages that contain the word “John” while the the other two will provide just the messages from or to him.

Google has a number search terms available for use including:

• from – Used to identify the person who sent the message.
• to – Used to specify a person in the recipient list.
• subject – Used to search the subject line.
• has:attachment - Is used to identify messages that contain attachments.
• quotes – Are used to provide exact phrasing for the search.
• in:inbox – Limits the search to the in-box.
• in:anywhere – Searches all ares of Gmail except the Spam and Trash folders.
• after – Returns only messages sent or received after a certain date.
• before – Returns only messages sent or received before a certain date.

(Google offers a complete list of additional terms in their Support page)

Once you learn the search terms you can combine them to gain control over your messages. For example you want to find all messages from Bill regarding an Halloween party you may type a search phrase as follows: “from:bill after:10/1/2008 before:11/1/2008 subject:halloween or party”. Assuming Bill is a common correspondent this would return a much narrower set of results than just searching on “bill halloween party”.

Once you have a firm grasp of the search techniques you will be able to quickly and efficiently recall messages from your GMail in-box.

Technorati Tags: Getting Things Done, Gmail, Google, Google search, GTD, Productivity, Search, Search Engines, Spam, Web search engine

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Over the past couple year’s career changes have made me a much more mobile professional and as such I have become heavily reliant on my laptop, wireless, mobile internet, and Blackberry. I have also shifted my work, reading, and communications patterns over time to become more efficient and effective in my personal and professional communications.

Over the past couple months I have written a number or posts about my mobile workspace, how I integrate my laptop and Blackberry to provide a single information system, and how to work more effectively when on the road. One of the tools I use but have written little about is staring me right in the face…the internet.

As a laptop user I tend to carry most of my documents with my on the run but since the internet has become readily available to me I have started to make the shift for many of my daily communications tasks to the cloud and away from my CPU. Below are a couple examples of how I remain in touch and efficient with “my head in the clouds.”

• First and foremost I sync my Blackberry over-the-air (OTA) and though the clouds with Outlook, which I use as my desktop personal information manager (PIM). This keeps my calendar, contacts, task list, and work e-mail in check regardless of my locale. This allows me to remain active when most would be down because I know my next actions and have a way to remain in touch and reach out to my contacts. Of course the backbone of the wireless communication is the phones data services that ride over the internet.
• Over the past couple years I have moved my personal e-mail to the web, starting first with switching from POP to IMAP (which allowed me to keep my e-mail on the server and connect from multiple locations) and now I have settled on Gmail to provide me web based e-mail. I not only use a traditional @gmail.com address but also my personal domain on Gmail, which provides me access on my Blackberry (with their mobile applications) as well as my laptop or any other computer with an internet connection. Beyond their great spam and virus monitoring service I have the convenience global access anywhere I am.
• Over the years I have used fewer non-web sources for news and human interest and moved exclusively to the web, and in particular to RSS feeds. I receive not only local news but a daily stream of special interest and personal interest stories from trusted international, national, and local sources, as well as independent bloggers. In the past I used a couple desktop RSS aggregators for track my feeds but I have recently shifted to Google Reader and away from my desktop to allow me to review the daily articles from either my Blackberry (using Google’s mobile application) or any desktop with internet access. I can now read and skim my daily news as I stand in line or save articles for reference or an in-depth read later.

For personal communication I have become an avid user of social networking tools like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter (some of my most common) to stay in touch with my friends, family, and business contacts. I have defined a purpose for each of the tools I use to ensure they remain effective for me rather than becoming a distraction.

• While I have a MySpace account I have invested more effort into Facebook because I found in the beginning it met my needs and lifestyle better than other social networking tools. I use this site primarily to communicate and stay in touch with friends and family rather than business contacts since it offers enough applications (like photo sharing and messaging) that are easy to use for quick updates. This has become increasingly important since I moved 1,600 miles away from my home town and family in 2007—I can used Facebook to stay in touch and let the grandparents, aunts and uncles remain connected with my children and family better than through phone calls.
• Over the years I have become an avid LinkedIn user, although I am not a LinkedIn Open Networker (LION). I use LinkedIn to remain in touch with former colleagues and business partners (present and past) and make connections to support my professional life. I have found this to be a great tool to reconnect with trusted contacts and receive answers to questions, advice, and find referrals. I stream network updates to my RSS feed to gain additional contacts and see profile changes (like career changes) in my existing network.
• Twitter has become a daily tool over the past couple months. I started using it to centralize my status updates among my various social networking tools but have begun using it to reach out to my local community and make meaningful contacts. Over time I am seeing my usage shift to information gathering and sharing as my relationships expand.

While this is just a small sample of the tools I have chosen to enhance my productivity the shift from being PC oriented to cloud oriented is one I expect to continue. The tools are becoming increasingly robust and my connections to the internet are becoming increasingly fast and stable. I will continue to seek additional tools to improve my work and social process.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Getting Things Done, Gmail, Google, Google Reader, GTD, LinkedIn, LinkedIn Open Networker, mobile, MySpace, Productivity, RSS, tools

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• Lose weight
• Save more money/spend less money
• Read more books
• Connect with more people

As the clock ticks from 11:59 12/31/2008 to 12:00 1/1/2009 they are supposed to magically change their habits and become better people—then days later they fail.

I avoid making New Year Resolution for two reasons:

• I am perpetually driven my established high level goals and aligned tasks. Since I focus on my goals though out the year I’m not compelled to make special goals at that start of a year since I am constantly setting and reappraising my direction.
• Habit changes take time, commitment, and effort so placing a stake in the ground on an arbitrary date and expecting to change overnight is not realistic.

While I usually spend some time around the New Year to reevaluate my priorities since things tend to slow down at work I don’t usually make major changes in my plan to correspond with the New Year.

If you are focused on New Year’s Resolutions consider changing your focus to a long term plan with action items that provide specific and measurable result. As you reevaluate your plans in the upcoming months it will become easier to measure your success and make necessary adjustments.

Happy New Year! Avoid New Year’s Resolutions, focus on long term changes, and enjoy your success.

Technorati Tags: Getting, GTD, Holidays and Special Days, money, New Year, New Year Resolution, New Years, People and Society, Resolution, Resolutions, Weight loss

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Like most corporate employees I work with a shared network attached printer. The hassles of leaving my desk to pick up my print or the risk of losing the documents among the others that will pop off the printer are nagging annoyances. To combat this I frequently pause the print queue and release it when I am ready to retrieve my batch of documents. To ensure I don’t impact my co-workers and I can prepare documents to print when I am traveling I install my network printer as a local printer, rather than a network attached printer, so that I can queue documents when I am disconnected from the network.

To accomplish this, I first configure a local printer by creating a standard TCP/IP port that will appear as follows once configured:

After the printer is configured properly you can simply Pause the printing from the queue and release it when you are ready to retrieve your documents.

While this isn’t as technical as writing a batch script I find that I usually identify documents I want to print while I am working on them can then use the printer settings, like duplex or collation, by taking advantage of the drivers’ functions; which saves even more time.

Share your Windows productivity tips by adding a comment.

Technorati Tags: Batch file, Getting Things Done, GTD, life hacks, Lifehack, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, Printer, printers, Printing, Productivity, Queue, Technology, Transmission Control Protocol, Windows

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The Myth of Multitasking by Dave Crenshaw is a quick read that I was able to complete in a little more than an hour commuter flight. While I found the premise interesting I found that it was a bit light on content and certainly not worth the price I paid for the book.

Essentially the title of the book divulges the major lessons in the book:

• Multitasking is impossible and there are switching costs associated with the tasks we attempt to do in multiple.
• Time is a fixed commodity and needs to be controlled and managed.
• Attempting multiple tasks results in all tasks taking more time than concentrated effort and are frequently done more poorly and with a greater number of errors.

While my experience and training validates each of the premises this book does little more than reiterate the points and provide a couple techniques to take better control of your time. I would skip this book and go for one that is more tactical because the lessons will be the same and you will get coping techniques.

Technorati Tags: Book Review, Books, Dave Crenshaw, Getting Things Done, GTD, Management, multitasking, Project Managment, Tim Management

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My Mobile Workspace

Originally uploaded by mraditus

Once of the biggest opportunities for people trying to implement a new productivity system is to plan ahead and simplify their processes to be effective anywhere they happen to be.

A couple couple months ago I wrote a post about my Ubiquitous Capture System that describes my use of a Blackberry and Outlook to manage my time. To make both work effectively I have taken quite a bit of effort to reduce the foot print of my tools to remain effective even when I’m out of the office.

I frequently travel between a number of production facilities and have found that it has become critical to make sure my laptop is functional no matter where I am–so I have replicated my office in my car by keeping my needs simple.

First and foremost, I have an inexpensive CyberPower AC Inverter to charge my laptop battery. I the AC both when I am working in the vehicle or to charge my laptop between facilities so I am less defendant on having other power sources. I have paired this with an extended (9-cell) battery so I can get approximately three hours of active use between charges.

Next, since am frequently working with Microsoft Office documents and need to sync my e-mail I have mobile data services activated on my Blackberry so I can tether and connect to my corporate network via VPN. Some of my co-workers have both cell phones and data cards but I have found that having a single device saves me the hassle of managing multiple devices. Of course, I generally try to find a free hot spot rather than my Blackberry to gain bandwidth.

Finally, I try to keep my workspace clean so I am not tripping over clutter.

Taking a minimalist approach allow me to stay efficient and effective regardless of where I am working.

Technorati Tags: Automobile, Battery, Getting Things Done, GTD, Laptop, life hacks, Lifehack, Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, Mobile Phone, Time Management, Unclutter

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Photo by flyzipper

I frequently coach my team on techniques they can use to become more effective and one of the areas that I have found the greatest challenged is in remaining focused. Here are five simple techniques that I use to maintain focus on the critical projects and issues.

• Keep your work area uncluttered. Clutter becomes a distraction to efficiency, either you cannot find the items you need or you are looking at the next items in queue. I try to keep my immediate work surface clear of all distractions with just an inbox, which I clear immediately by deciding next action, and all my hot files are stored out of sight but in immediate reach. By having an uncluttered workspace I can concentrate on just the items in my immediate view.
• Minimize the number of distractions by working simply. As an IT Director the majority of my work originates from e-mail, meetings, or phone conversations and I have found over time that eventually everything needs to be captured into my tracking systems and storage systems, which I have created in my laptop. I have minimized the number of “technology toys” that I use on a daily basis to just a Bluetooth mouse and my laptop to minimize the number of technology issues I need to troubleshoot for myself. By keeping my tools simple I can quickly take my laptop from desk to meeting and capture the minutes and notes real time or steal the moments I am waiting for my less efficient colleagues to arrive to on follow-up items.
• Schedule your work time. My colleagues joke with me about how diligent I am about scheduling meeting times rather than being informal and “fitting it in”. I have found that I work best when I create time blocks to work and there are less distractions that caused by trying to “fit meetings in” when I know everything that is critical will occur at a specific time and the other affected parties know when it will occur as well. If I place a meeting or work time on the schedule we can all parties can mutually agree that the topic will be addressed and we are free to concentrate on other matters until that time.
• Take “work vacations”. When I have a critical deadline or a project that will take more than a couple hours to complete I schedule an entire day of uninterrupted work. During that day I don’t answer the phone, check e-mail, or allow meetings and visitors. This approach is especially effective if you can work behind closed doors so if you don’t have a private office schedule a conference room for the day and gain access to a laptop.
• Simplify tasks, delegate and train others. While many think that delegation is just a managers technique it can be effectively used at all levels of the organization. I have often seen administrative assistants wrapped into unnecessary request to pull files just because other staff members didn’t understand how the filing system was indexed—train others to get the files and create a drop box for the folders that need to be refilled and you will eliminate half of the file request. I have programmers who run reports for various departments and I implore them to simplify and automate the process to either delegate the task to the computer system or the requesting department. This is the most powerful technique because it not only allows you to remain focused but also creates more time.

How do you maintain focus?

Technorati Tags: Bluetooth, Computer, Getting Things Done, GTD, Hardware, Laptop, Managment, Notebooks and Laptops, Real-time computing, self-help, Technology, Time Management

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To speed up the process of flagging and moving the message I have created the following scripts to move the task to a follow-up folder and flag if for start and completion the following work day.  This allows me to review and schedule the task that are processed for follow-up after I have filed the items that need no further action.

I have created a button on the Outlook toolbar to perform this task on the select item but could easily modify the provided code to add additional subroutines that would flag or categorize the items in an infinite number of combinations.

To use the following code just copy and paste it into the macros in Outlook 2007:

Sub FlagSelectedMessageForFollowUpAndMove()

On Error Resume Next
    Dim objFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder, objInbox As Outlook.MAPIFolder
    Dim objNS As Outlook.NameSpace, objItem As Outlook.MailItem

    FlagForFollowUpNextWeekday
   
    Set objNS = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI")
    Set objInbox = objNS.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox)

'Note to users  ***  You need to change the folder name and it must be a sub-folder of the inbox
    Set objFolder = objInbox.Folders("Follow-up Issues")
'Assume this is a mail folder

If objFolder Is Nothing Then
        MsgBox "This folder doesn't exist!", vbOKOnly + vbExclamation, "INVALID FOLDER"
    End If

    If Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection.Count = 0 Then
        'Require that this procedure be called only when a message is selected
        Exit Sub
    End If

    For Each objItem In Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection
        If objFolder.DefaultItemType = olMailItem Then
            If objItem.Class = olMail Then
                objItem.Move objFolder
            End If
        End If
    Next

    Set objItem = Nothing
    Set objFolder = Nothing
    Set objInbox = Nothing
    Set objNS = Nothing

End Sub

Sub FlagForFollowUpNextWeekday()
'Based on code presented at: http://skillzdesign.com/blog/2008/01/02/flag-microsoft-outlook-inbox-items-for-follow-up-script/

    Dim Days As Integer
    Dim DayOfWeek As Integer
   
   
    Days = 1
    DayOfWeek = DatePart("w", Now() + Days)
   
    Do Until (DayOfWeek > 1 And DayOfWeek < 7)
        Days = Days + 1
        DayOfWeek = DatePart("w", Now() + Days)
    Loop
   
    FlagForXDays Days, "Follow Up", "@NotAssigned"
   
End Sub

Sub FlagForXDays(intDays As Integer, strFlagRequest As String, strCategories)
'Based on code presented at: http://skillzdesign.com/blog/2008/01/02/flag-microsoft-outlook-inbox-items-for-follow-up-script/
'Modified by Marc Rohde (http://marc.rohde-net.us) to the flag by a number of days.
   
    Dim Item As Object
    Dim SelectedItems As Selection
    Dim dtTaskDate As Date
   
    dtTaskDate = CStr(CDate(Format(CDbl(Now) + intDays)))
   
   
    Set SelectedItems = Outlook.ActiveExplorer.Selection
        For Each Item In SelectedItems
            With Item
                .ToDoTaskOrdinal = dtTaskDate
                .TaskDueDate = dtTaskDate
                .TaskStartDate = dtTaskDate
                .FlagStatus = 2
                .FlagRequest = strFlagRequest
                .Categories = strCategories
                .FlagIcon = 6
                .Save
            End With
        Next Item
End Sub

Technorati Tags: Client, Cut copy and paste, Flags, Getting Things Done, GTD, Macro, Mail, Microsoft Outlook, Outlook, tools, Visual Basic, Windows

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Photo by Terry Chay

Most planning and productivity systems, like Franklin Covey® and David Allen’s Getting Things Done, place a focus on establishing life goals and envisioning what we want to become. Essentially we seek our driving principles by asking “What will my perfect life look like?” Are you a great parent, spouse, employee, business owner, humanitarian, athlete, risk taker? How do you define success and happiness?

After you define success you will gain clarity about your priorities and have a much better understanding of what you ought to be doing. You will also begin to gain some clarity about how you should proceed with your daily and weekly plans.

Over the past couple months I have recognized a gap in my goals and my actions with the realization that to be more effective in all facets of my life I need to be healthier. If I want to be a better father I need the energy to participate with my children and to be a better coach to my employees I need to be able to instill the discipline that I expect in the work setting in my personal life. Upon recognizing this need I began the process of changing my daily task to include healthier eating and exercise.

Since I have defined success in my professional and private life and established a basic roadmap to achieve my goals it was important to analyze how the new goal of personal health would augment those other goals and how it would fit into the plan; I also needed to identify the routines that would allow me to maintain existing goals and accomplish the new objectives.

For me this was an easy task to integrate the new goal into the plan because a healthier lifestyle is complementary of my other goals. More challenging was integrating the routines into my schedule; for example I needed to identify an exercise routine that would not create conflict with my work or family. To overcome the challenge I chose to wake earlier to exercise before work and enjoy active time, like walking, with my family.

Four months after reevaluating my priorities, establishing goals, and turning actions into routines I have lost over 30 pounds and have established some fitness goals that I am working on accomplishing. Making the change in my life has given me insight into how I can integrate future changes that will inevitably occur in my goals and guiding principles. It has also reinforced the need to establish goals and envision success to ensure success.

What successful techniques have you used to integrate new goals and habits into your routine? How do you change your focus and goals? How do you integrate new habits and routines as you shift your goals?

Technorati Tags: 7 Habits, Alternative, Business, change, Coaching, David Allen, FranklinCovey, Getting Things Done, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, goals, GTD, Habits, Health, life hacks, Lifehack, managing change

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1. Plan your work. Since there are likely extended periods that you will not be connected to the world and with proper planning you can get quite a bit of work done during those times. I will frequently envision what I can accomplish at various times throughout the trip and be ready when they come up. For example if I know I will be in a cab for 20 minutes I can plan a couple phone call and if I will be taking an hour commuter flight will print documents ahead of the flight that I can review an annotate.
2. Pack the right tool. Once you know what needs to be accomplished and the type of work you will be able complete you will realize what tools need to be packed, like cell charges, phones, USB drives, files, printed documents, etc. I also recommend that you think about the type of travel you will do to identify the best tools for the long term, for example, I don’t travel frequently (usually only once a month) and as such I choose a laptop with a large screen that make it difficult to work on a plan. If you travel frequently it is best to tools that lend themselves to the type of work you will need to do in an enclosed area.
3. Find moments to steal. Since your work is planned efficiently you will inevitably identify a number of tasks that can be done in shot time blocks. As you wait for a flight or in line you will be able to accomplish a number of the task that can be done in short bursts.
4. Relax. Travel can be stressful, consider using some of “down time” created by the flights and waiting to relax. I usually plan to spend the last part of any flight to just enjoy some down time before I get back to the work at hand; or when traveling I will try to find a café or outdoor area that I can work to spur creativity and get more accomplished. Use the change of scenery to reinvigorate your senses.

To remain effective while I travel I use by Getting Things Done tools and some Zen Habits to maintain high energy and efficient result. With well planned travel it can be just as easy to work on the road as in the office.

Technorati Tags: Effectivity, Getting Things Done, GTD, Productivity, Publications, Recreation, Road, Travel, Universal Serial Bus, Zen Habits

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In addition to data that standard contact information I also use categories to identify the contact context like: Active Supplier, Potential Supplier, Customer, or a Project Name as well as the notes fields which are indexed but Windows Desktop Search for quick recall. This allows me to keep all my active contacts available on both my desktop and Blackberry as well as quickly pare to old contacts out of my active file into my archive.

It is amazing how quickly this approach allows me to recall contact information and I look forward to augmenting my current system in upcoming weeks when I attend a trade show.

Technorati Tags: Blackberry, Computer, Evernote, Getting Things Done, GTD, Lifehack, Mobile Phone, Outlook, Productifity, Simplofy, Unclutter, Windows, Windows Search

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• Make the habit daily even if it isn’t necessary; for example getting up early every day ensures that the habit is reinforces.
• Alternate habit activities at the same time to ensure you have planned to fill the time every day.
• Chain habits together to allow you to skip an individual activity occasionally but ensure you still complete the series.
• Turn the habits into appointments but enlisting others—it seems that commitments to ourselves are often more easily broken than commitments to others.

As I consider Pavlin’s recommendations I can easily see applications for those who have choose an Information Technology career. For example:

• System administrators ought to check backup logs every morning when they walk into work. This gives them an opportunity to evaluate risks and decide next actions for the rest of the day.
• If there is a need to review other log files on a less frequent basis, like application logs on servers, alternate between the log files every day—but always check log files.
• Have an early morning routine that ensure you hit critical items like: Plug-in laptop and start boot process, get coffee, check service management system for critical issues, check e-mail for critical issues, review appointments, review tasks, detail read of e-mail, start executing on projects. By following a routine you can become effective early in the day before the unexpected issues take control.
• Establish a weekly general matters meeting with your boss at which you will report the stat of projects and systems you are responsible for maintaining. If you start providing relevant data during these meetings you will be compelled to continue providing the data.

If all the suggestions I am partial to the idea of chaining habits. I have a morning routine that works well for me to ensure I prioritize the early action in my day that includes checking my Blackberry when I wake up to see if there were any critical issues that arose overnight—once I am certain that nothing critical is waiting for me I can continue my routine without interruption.

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If you are interested in creating a habit Pavlin has provided some suggestion in a blog entry called “30 Days to Success”

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

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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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I think the only thing left to say is ENJOY….

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

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I was reviewing some of my RSS feeds this weekend and came across a timely article by Kelly Forrister at Simply GTD that discusses the topic of “Dealing with Disruptions.” I have been having a number of conversations lately on this topic since the IT world is wrought with disruptions, emergencies, and burning issues.

Kelly addresses this topic from the GTD Practitioners perspective by suggesting that you:

• Carry a notepad to take notes of requests and disruptions.
• Ask people to send you an e-mail so you can process the issues later.
• Perform a Mindsweep at least weekly (I prefer the term Brain Dump) to collect and tie together loose ends.
• Make sure you have a physical inbox to collect the paper and actions from the physical world.
• Take yourself offline. If you can’t say no to disruptions avoid them.

Many of the conversation that I have had recently have centered on a Service Desk implementation that we have underway. A common complaint among IT staff is that people disrupt the project work and nothing gets done. I have become proponent of establishing an e-mail oriented process that ensure rapid response AND allow us to control our time. Every disruption takes away from my staff ability to manage their time and be effective.

The most critical issues in my experience with dealing with disruptions is having a process that works and provides results. First, if you are going to ask somebody to follow a different process, like send an e-mail, you need to show them that they will get result that are promised from the new process. Next, you have to retrain them to understand they will not get the expected results from the old process (i.e. if you immediately react to disruptions you will always be disrupted). When you start to make the transition the most difficult challenge will be to get the requester to trust the new process and accept that you aren’t just “blowing them off.”

Disruptions are probably one of the most challenging issues that one can face related to their own productivity since the requester has taken control of their time. It is important to regain control of your time if you plan to regain control of your productivity.

Technorati Tags: Getting Things Done, GTD, Productivity, Time Management

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Over the past couple days I have been considering a number of technologies that enhance my productivity and while a couple come to mind (which I will likely share in future blog posts) there is one that I hadn’t considered much in the past, probably due to its simplicity. Among the tools I use most is Windows Search for XP (for the latest version).

While this tool isn’t installed by default on Windows XP is it a default feature in Windows Vista. Essentially this tool installs a taskbar add-in an enhanced indexing engine that indexes the contents of your desktop files and Microsoft Outlook. After it completes indexing it allow the users to search the desktop files for keywords with an extremely high degree of accuracy.

While I try to keep a very clean file system I inevitably lose track of some of the relevant documents that I am looking for since I often don’t recall if they were stored in my ever growing Exchange file, my various PST (personal stores) that are necessary to address my corporate message quotas, or within the “My Documents” folders. Since the Windows Search software indexes each of the storage locations it provides a convenient, one stop tool to find all of my project data.

Although this tool doesn’t address my imaged data, which I need to structure and store much more diligently, I have been extremely pleased with the way it handles my Office and text oriented documents and have had a noticeable improvement in finding documents on demand.

Technorati Tags: Getting Things Done, GTD, Productivity, Windows Tools

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I recently read Total Work Day Control Using Microsoft Outlook by Michael Linenberger. I found this book was a good companion to many of the other task and project management books that I have read. Based on the authors continue references to Getting Things Done by David Allen and may own reading I think this is well described as the “PIM companion to Getting Things Done.”

Although my employer runs Lotus I was able to implement most of the concepts in the book with slight changes to account for software differences and limitations.

Technorati Tags: Getting Things Done, GTD, life hacks, Linenberger, Total Workday Control

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Start early. One of the greatest stressors around the holidays is the lack of time and since most people start planning for Christmas after Thanksgiving its not wonder that they are stressed for time. My mom taught me, and later my wife and sister-in-law, that you CAN start buying Christmas present throughout the year; and what better day to start than the day after Christmas.

Set a budget. To combat the overwhelming cost we set a budget for gift giving and work within the guidelines—this gives us a fair and equitable way to ensure we have enough money to buy gift for everybody on the list though the year. Early on we write the names of the people we need to by gifts for in a notebook and the total we will spend, we then track the gifts we buy though the year next to the person’s name to ensure that we have spent within budget. Since we keep the “Gift List” we can quickly see how much we will spend, how much we have spent, and how much effort is left.

Buy on sale! Since we are have set a budget and start early we have the latitude to buy gifts when they are on sale (or clearance). This lets us stretch the budgets to buy more gifts for our loved ones and kids. Keep in mind that some people will have seasonal hobbies that you may be able to find end of season deals to get them equipment upgrades for the next year—like end of season close-outs at the local golf pro-shop.

Save through-out the year. I realize that it isn’t feasible to buy gifts early for all of the people (like your picky and brand obsessed niece who won’t be seen dead in last years style) so if you save through out the year for those purchases you will feel less financial pressure when you need to make the purchase. To instill this discipline many banks offer Christmas Club accounts that will accept direct deposits and since you have a budget you know that the goal amount should be.

Eliminate some of the stress. As I have grown older I have begun to realize that Christmas is not about the gifts you receive but the time with loved ones and the giving to those truly in need. In the past we have exchanged gifts with LOTS of people—grown siblings, friends, acquaintances, business associates, and others. After having children and gaining more friends with children I have realized that the gift given generates stress not only for the person giving the gift but also the person receiving the gift with an expectation to reciprocate. I started by having conversation with family members about only buying gifts for the children or a single gift for the family; I was pleased to find that most people were relieved to have one less gift to stress over. This idea was extended when I owned my own business—instead of putting the effort into selecting gifts for my clients we made a donation to a local charity providing gifts for children in need—this freed hours of planning for individual client gifts, placed gifts into the hand of deserving children, and made me feel great all season.

By following these simple guidelines as the holidays come and pass I am able to enjoy the time with my loved ones and feel comfortable that my personal commitments will be met.

Technorati Tags: Christmas, life hacks, money, personal finance

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When starting on a financial journey it is important to know if ones intentions are eliminating debt, increasing savings, buying a home, investing for retirement, or saving for a child’s education. Financial goals need to be personal by their very nature since each person’s personal finances are bound to be different.

While I would tell people that I am interested in all of the above stated financial goals my near term goals are related to debt elimination. As is usually the case with people staring their financial journey that there is a need to minimize debt payments before they can seriously consider taking their next steps.

Although my near term goal is to eliminate debt I am always looking towards the next goal. I continue to save for retirement using my 401k and have a 5 year goal to upgrade to a larger, newer home. Since I am foreword looking and projecting my next moves I can put my financial decisions into context and identify if they are aligned with my current and long term goals.

I would be interested in reader’s comments regarding short and long term goals. I strongly believe that identifying a road map is the surest method of ensuring success regardless of the goals.At the start of any journey is it is important to know the destination, if for know other reason than to answer the fighting children in the back seat asking “are we there yet?”

When starting on a financial journey it is important to know if ones intentions are eliminating debt, increasing savings, buying a home, investing for retirement, or saving for a child’s education. Financial goals need to be personal by their very nature since each person’s personal finances are bound to be different.

While I would tell people that I am interested in all of the above stated financial goals my near term goals are related to debt elimination. As is usually the case with people staring their financial journey that there is a need to minimize debt payments before they can seriously consider taking their next steps.

Although my near term goal is to eliminate debt I am always looking towards the next goal. I continue to save for retirement using my 401k and have a 5 year goal to upgrade to a larger, newer home. Since I am foreword looking and projecting my next moves I can put my financial decisions into context and identify if they are aligned with my current and long term goals.

I would be interested in reader’s comments regarding short and long term goals. I strongly believe that identifying a road map is the surest method of ensuring success regardless of the goals.

Technorati Tags: goals, money, personal finance

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