- How do you capture the things coming at you? This includes requests, orders, questions, internal desires, spam, whatever.
- How do you know what to do right now? What if nothing is scheduled?
- How do you keep from missing deadlines?
- How do you keep track of things you have asked of others?
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
What's your system?
If you interact with other people and have responsibilities, you need a system. Your brain counts, but if you tell me that is all you are using, I will nod politely and never trust you with anything. Whatever the system, it needs to answer some key questions.
4 comments:
I'll attempt to answer your 4 questions mainly out of an exercise to see how/where my system breaks down and to share my methods. I don't adhere to a strict GTD but more of a hybrid.
1. Most things come at me via email. I use an inbox zero methodology that simply goes... I reply to things I can right away or stick them into a "later" (star them in gmail) bin. Then process them regularly throughout scheduled times in the day. I have a "bin" folder in firefox that holds things i need to read on. things from emails etc... and process those depending on content.
2. I keep a to-do list in my iphone (Appigo) for long-term to-do's and simple "today" type things. I use a Moleskine for to-do's around a task/project that may requires other notes. I like the freedom to sketch and free-form the to-do's that way.
In non-work related "nothing is scheduled" times I take a look at my past and future weeks margins. Do I have them? If not then I just generally do nothing :) downtime, funtime, sanity time. Might not be the best way but it works for me.
3. Daily review. I look at my starred items in Gmail and my to-do's. i might set reminders if something is clock sensitive.
4. To-do's. If I need something it is generally marked as a to-do. Being that I try to keep everything via email I sometimes "star" the sent message.
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I do see some areas I can improve even in just writing this out off the fly. My biggest thing is to work hard at creating margins in my life and to realize that not everything is a "top priority".
Ryan - thanks for the thoughts. Our systems can nearly always improve, and sometimes just thinking about them can highlight changes that need to be made. The trap I fall into is working more on my system than on my work. I'm kind of a geek that way.
The reminder that not everything is a top priority is helpful, too. Margin rocks.
Single best advice I got from Glenn Smith's coacing sessions was that I should be thinking about how I do things. And not just doing things. I'm amazed at what actually DOESN'T work when I look at myself
@Ryan - Glenn's a systems guy, and I've found generally worth listening to.
http://thegrowthcoachhouston.blogspot.com/2009/09/theres-leverage-in-systems.html
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