Since I'm a big fan of the
Getting Things Done system, I'm always looking for ways to increase the efficiency of my process. I want to dedicate a few posts to how I've setup my GTD system and the shortcuts I use to make it easier. Let's start this off with a "brief" post about how I organize GTD within Outlook.
As I noted in an
earlier post, I use
Bonsai as my main GTD project/action storage. But as many of us business users know, there is an entirely separate system that needs the full attention of a good GTD implementation...Email.
I honestly feel that if everyone used GTD just for their email, we might just achieve world peace How many of you out there have an Inbox with thousands of messages just sitting there? Can you list all the people you're waiting on for responses? Do you know which emails you've acted on and which you still have to do? What about everything you worked on last week, or the instructions your vendor sent you about Project X?
I used to be in Email hell. My inbox was the only folder I used. There were thousands of messages in it. Once every year I'd make an "Archive" folder and move everything from an arbitrary point in the past into that folder. I tried using "Flags" and "Reminders", but those never stuck.
I have now reached Email nirvana (not
that one,
this one). My Inbox is empty. I process everything. I delete ferverently. Every meaningful email has a place.
Let me give a brief overview of the Outlook portion of my GTD implementation. I'm not going to go into great detail about GTD, I'm just going to show you how I process my emails...
My Outlook GTD
For starters, I use the Shortcuts view in the left pane of my Outlook. This keeps the clutter of all my actual folders way way down.
Now, any seasoned GTDer looking at my list of folders should see that I've got the main tenants of the system all lined up. For the uninitiated, here is the rundown...
Main Section
Inbox - Everything comes in here and remains until processed.
@Action - Anything that will take more than 2 minutes to actually do goes into this folder.
@Waiting For - Anything that I'm waiting for a response on goes into this folder.
Project Support Section - Any currently active projects get a shortcut here. All project related emails get moved into their appropriate folder. (Note: The names of my projects have been changed to protect the innocent).
Reference Email Section
@Somday/Maybe - Anything that might hold interest or be a good project "sometime" in the future.
@Read/Review - All email lists I subscribe to go in here. I never really look at them after that :)
@Completed - The final email from a non-project task goes in here. Hopefully the full conversation is intact. Useful to see what you've been up to.
My normal routine is to go through each item in my Inbox and process it appropriately. In GTD terms this means doing the task if it's less that 2 minutes, deferring the task till later, delegating the task, deleting if not needed or filing if needed.
Another part of my implementation is that I CC all emails I send to myself. This gives me an easy to reach copy of all my correspondence. Some of these get deleted immediately, others get moved into my @Waiting For folder so I know what I'm waiting on from someone. You can setup Outlook to automatically CC you on everything, so there's no overhead in typing your name on every email.
Doing
If it's quick, and you have the time. Do it. Nuff said. Move your CC'd response into the @Completed folder.
Deferring
Can't do it right now? Move it into your @Action folder. Review this folder regularly when you have time to burn off on these items.
Delegating
Not your problem? Need more information? Got a someone you can pawn it off on? Forward it to them and move your CC'd forward into the @Waiting For folder. The best part about this folder is that the next day, you can iterate through each of them re-forwarding each message asking "What's up with this issue?". People will think you're totally ontop of things (and you will be!).
Filing
Important information in this message? Stuff you'd like to keep around for future reference? If it's part of an active project, move it into your Project folder. If it's long term stuff (HR docs, important memos, sweet pics of Paris Hilton) move it into the appropriate Reference folder.
Deleting
Don't need it ever again? Delete. If everyone did this one step right away, it would probably save exobytes of space and put hard drive manufacturers out of business.
So there's the "brief" overview of my Outlook GTD system. Like I said, there is really nothing special here. It's just important to keep up on your processing! You'll end up making all this second nature and being a very happy camper.
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