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.