getting things done

Getting Things Done and other digital productivity strategies

Wendy StephensMCLADecember 3, 2010

50,000+ feet life 40,000 feet 3-5 years 30,000 feet 1-2 years

20,000 feet areas of responsibility 10,000 feet current projects runway current actions

mind like water

Getting Things DoneDavid Allen, “the Henry Ford of the digital age”

“get things out of your head and into a trusted system” All the inputs you collect represent an action or a project (group of actions).

300-400 times a day you will be confronted with new information you must decide upon.• Deal with these items early, quickly, and regularly.• It may initially take you as long as 40 seconds to process an email, a

memo, or an addition to your schedule. Make it your goal to get to 10 seconds.

GTD principles

Always have a collection tool close by. Only use your inboxes as inboxes – don’t use your desk, house, or car.

Decide on what will become of material items immediately.

Complete projects that will require two minutes or less as soon as they present themselves if you ever plan to do them at all.

Don’t allow paper and notes to sit unprocessed.

Review your lists and folders as often as required to keep your head empty.

more GTD strategies

lists -- use online list generators like Remember the Milk (RTM) or Google Tasks (in Calendar) to create your own personalized list which you can adapt and duplicate as required

keyboard shortcuts

open document/folders

43 folders

labels

email: getting to zero

• Develop a system. The best ones are either very specific (files or tags like "NATC08" rather than "Technology" or "Professional Development") or very general, like the Lifehacker "trusted trio:" follow up, archive, hold.

• David Allen suggests folders should exist for themes, topics, or persons.

• Never leave a read email in your inbox.

• You probably sort through your postal mail over a wastepaper basket. You should scan your inbox with your finger on delete.

• Emptying the inbox does not imply that the work is done, but rather the "next action" has been taken.

• Each message remaining in your inbox becomes a psychic burden, generating stress.

email: getting to zero

• Consider having different email accounts for commercial transactions and a separate account for websites requiring registration.

• There are two sorts of email accounts: finite space (MCBOE) requiring more maintenance and virtually unlimited memory (gmail, yahoo, hotmail). In some ways, cheap memory is a curse, because it enables you to save everything.

• Use the "search" feature within your email program. If you have built a system of redundant folders, or nested folders, it may be the most efficient way to get to the information you are looking for.

• Build time to maintain your inbox into your schedule. Frequency depends upon the volume of communication, but twice a day is adequate for most people. Of course, you may want to review your inbox for new messages more frequently.

• Handling your messages more promptly will, paradoxically, allow you to go longer without checking for new messages.

Other time management strategies

Reading online content: use an RSS aggregatorany xml-compliant site: flickr feeds, wikipedia updates, al.com, twitter, other people’s del.icio.us bookmarks


flickr feeds


wikipedia updates


Reading online content: al.com


Reading online content: twitter


Reading online content: other people’s del.icio.us bookmarks


podcasts – great for bringing together student work


Share bookmarks across machines and using your own comments and controlled vocabulary (del.icio.us, ma.gnol.ia, furl, diigo)


Photo pools (flickr)


Calendar


Document sharing (Google documents)A single version of the document