Clear Context Outlook Add-in

One of the tools that I use to manage my GTD system is the Clear Context Outlook Add-In.

Clear Context Daily Review

This diagram is a great GTD summary showcasing an essential tool if you use GTD and Outlook.

Yes, I have tried the GTD Outlook add-in from David Allen but it really does not compare with Clear Context - check it out!

David Allen GTD Video

Getting Things Done (GTD)

I have been a big fan of David Allen's Getting Things Done for a couple of years.
(Getting Things Done: The Basics)
Putting the principles into practice has always been the challenge.

Here is my current GTD system:

Workflow Process:

Collect:
My Primary Inbox = my Outlook Inbox

Other Potential Inboxes:
1. Office Voicemail - I eliminate this one by having our Shoretel system email me the VM message.
2. Cell Phone Voicemail Inbox
3. Office Physical Inbox
4. Home Mail Inbox

Process:
My primary inbox is my Outlook email which I will process twice a day at 11 AM and 4 PM. In between these times I go offline with Outlook, so as not to be distracted by the urgency of incoming emails.

I process my email sorted by sender, the benefits being:
1. I can quickly scan through and delete the junk.
2. I can quickly scan through and find the most valuable (clients etc)
3. I can process all emails sent by one person (generally someone I am working with) at one time and schedule a meeting/call if warranted rather than spend more time responding to each one.

Once I have done the preliminary scan, I process each email one at a time in good GTD form:
* If there is no action and no information I delete it
* If there is an action to follow but someone else in my company is better suited to the task, I delegate it by forwarding.
* If the next action is mine and I can do it in less than 2 minutes I do it.
* If the next action is mine and will take me longer than two minutes, I defer it by converting the email to a task using the Clear Context add-in for Outlook. I tag the task with categories that I have set up to organize my actions.
* If there is no action but information that I want to retain, I file it with my Clear Context add-in. (I also use Xobni which has a fantastic search to retrieve emails even when I cannot remember where I filed it).
* Finally if the item requires an action at a particular time, I convert the email to an appointment again using Clear Context.

Organize
My organization phase happens in parallel to processing:

For organization, I rely on Outlook tasks tagged with Categories.
I use a naming convention for the Categories that allows me to group them alphabetically with the highest level of focus at the top, I do this by adding a number of periods in front of the task name:
No period indicates a single task
"." indicates a project (Project in GTD is anything that cannot be done in a single task.
".." indicates a role - I will file individual tasks that are not projects under the appropriate role. In work terms the role my be a job responsibility (eg. "..HR"; "..Finance"), and as I subscribe to the one life theory, the role can also be non-work related ("Father"; "Runner" etc)
"..."indicates major goal - I will break down the next actions for major goals by creating new tasks tagged with the goal category.
"...." indicates life goal.

For context specific items I use the convention of adding @ in front of the grouping (again so that I can sort my tasks by category)
Examples of categories that I use:
@Calls - for items where the next action is a call
@Computer - for items where the next action is to review/work at the computer
@Toronto (or other city) - for items where the next action is a meeting in Toronto (or other city) and it does not merit a special trip. This way I can review these items and plan a trip that maximizes my time by grouping many meetings into one trip>
@Store
@Home

For items that require discussion and review with my members of my team at work, I use the convention of "1:1" in front of the name

As I process my inbox, Clear Context allows me to easily convert them to Tasks which I will tag with the category of project, role and goal (if applicable).

Review:

1. Daily Review:
I do the daily review twice, at 5 PM each day I preview the next day, first reviewing my calendar (including blocked time for key projects), then my task list with due dates. At 7 AM, after my morning run, I again review what the key tasks and appointments are for the day.

2. Weekly review:
Friday afternoon, I block an hour to do a weekly review.
Starting with quarterly goals then moving to current projects, I review and plan next actions and schedule time for these actions. I then review individual outstanding tasks and make plans to complete them.

3. Monthly Review
On the third Friday of the month, I block 3 hours to do a detailed review of my annual and quarterly goals, my current projects, and outstanding tasks. The purpose of this review is to set themes for the coming weeks, including travel plans.

Do:

With the regular reviews, the scheduling of blocks of time for key projects, and the regularly updated context based lists (@Calls etc) I am able to focus on Getting Things Done.

Getting Things Done (GTD) The Basics

Getting Things Done (GTD) is a productivity system, created by David Allen, based on the principle that individuals can increase productivity by recording tasks externally in action lists. By capturing these tasks, one's mind is free to focus completely at the task on hand and is not cluttered trying to remember what to do. As Allen puts it on his website: GTD "transforms personal overwhelm and overload into an integrated system of stress-free productivity".

Allen advocates three models to gain perspective and control:

1. A workflow process
2. A framework with 6 levels of focus
3. A natural planning method

The workflow process:

Collect - capture everything that needs to be tracked, remembered, or acted on into a "bucket". These buckets can be: physical inbox, email inbox, PDA, file folders, notebooks etc. All buckets should be emptied (processed) at least once per week.

Process
Start at the top.
Deal with one item at a time.
Never put anything back into 'in'.
If an item requires action:
Do it (if it takes less than two minutes), OR
Delegate it, OR
Defer it.

If an item does not require action:
File it for reference, OR
Throw it away, OR
Incubate it for possible action later.

Organize as you work through the Process phase each item will be placed in one of the following lists:
1. Project Lists: Define your projects; every open loop in one's work/life where there is more than one action necessary for completion becomes by definition a project.
2. Context Specific Next Action Lists: Identify Next Actions - for every item requiring attention(or project), decide what is the next action that can be taken on that item. Store Next Actions by the context in which they will be done - ie. "at the office", "phone calls"
3. Waiting for List — When an action has been delegated to someone else, or when one is waiting for some external event before a project can be moved forward, this is tracked in the system and periodically checked to see if action is due, or a reminder needs to be sent.
4. Someday/Maybe List — Things to be done at some point, but not right now.
5. Calendar - all items for which there is a fixed time/date commitment should be tracked in your calendar. These can be appointments, events, absolute deadlines etc.
6. Filing system: A filing system must be easy, simple and fun. Even a single piece of paper, if needed for reference, should get its own file if it doesn't belong in an existing folder. Allen suggests a single, alphabetically organized filing system, in order to make it as quick and easy as possible to store and retrieve the needed information.


Review
Daily Review:
Given the time, energy and resources available at a particular moment, one must decide the most important task to be done immediately, and do it.
Weekly Review:
Here is the real trick - all outstanding actions, projects and 'waiting for' items are reviewed weekly, making sure that any new tasks or forthcoming events are entered into one's system, and that everything is up to date. Next actions can be scheduled or blocks of time are planned for like activities.

Do
The thrust of GTD is to eliminate the clutter, minimize the number of times that a particular item is touched, so that more time can be spent doing. It also allows you to match your energy with the types of tasks at hand, rather than strict prioritization, which in other time management systems can lead to an energy:task mismatch that generally results in procrastination.

Framework with 6 Levels of Focus:

1. Current actions
2. Current projects
3. Areas of responsibility
4. Yearly goals
5. 5 year vision
6. Life goals

Natural Planning Method:

1. Defining the purpose and principles
2. Envisioning the outcome
3. Brainstorming
4. Organizing
5. Identifying next actions

iPhone 3G

Made the switch from Blackberry to iPhone in September...
Here are my early thoughts:
1. iPhone is really "portable web" and is a game-changer
2. Blackberry is still better with email (but check with me next week once we get the iPhone integrated with our corporate Exchange Server)
3. Appstore - holds a lot of promise but I have yet to find the killer app
4. Apple has made some funny oversights - like no cut and paste??

But after truly experiencing a phone as the portable web I would not go back.

Lessig Presentation

Great entry on "Lessig Method" of presentation with a powerful example of such a presentation by Sxip's Dick Hardt.

Weekend Reading

Spent a couple of hours reading a quick and provocative book by Seth Godin -
The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
Godin's premise is simple yet hard to know if it applies to you: successful people escape from dead ends quickly while staying focused and motivated when faced with temporary set-backs. What makes this even more interesting, is that Godin argues that worthwhile tasks always have what he calls the dip - a low point where progress is no longer being made, and fun is hard to find. In fact the worse the dip, the more one is forced to produce exceptional work to just survive. Once through a severe dip, a person or company emerges stronger and often with a lot less competition (many others quit in the dip and end up as losers). The hard part, and it is not so clear from Godin's book, is to determine whether you are really in a severe dip or a well defined rut that you are afraid to get out of. To help sort this out, Godin distinguishes between quitting a tactic and quitting a strategy. To be successful, one must quit many tactics while remaining focused on a strong (and ultimately successful) strategy. Finally, he gives three questions to ask prior to quitting: 1) Am I panicking?; 2) Who am I trying to influence? and 3)What sort of measurable progress am I making?

This book, like Godin's others is definitely thought provoking, especially for entrepreneurs gutting their way through tough times. This will become a new reference in my business library.