This is the third in a series of articles designed to look at how to ease into the GTD system, using some simple tools and the essence of the GTD method. Last week I discussed how to Process your inputs, so that you could quickly make decisions on what to do with the requests that come through your inputs. This week, we are going to talk about how to file the small amount of paperwork that you are now keeping (since you are discarding all the non-essential paper you receive when you are clearing your inputs, and the mess of papers that you were hoarding before you embraced GTD).

The goal of filing is simple: place papers where they are organized and tidy in a way that they can be found quickly when they are needed. It sounds simple, and it is, and yet most people do not file properly. So let’s talk about what it’s going to take to get you filing the correct way….

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This is the second in a series of articles designed to look at how to ease into the GTD system, using some simple tools and the essence of the GTD method. Last week, we discussed Getting Control Of Your Inputs. This week, we look at “processing requests,” the art of being asked to do something and quickly determining what to do with it. Processing is the engine that drives the GTD system. A GTD master can look at an incoming request and in seconds know if it should be put on a to do list, handed off to someone, or done right away. In this article we will talk about how to process requests from your inputs, and extend the system that we set up in the last article.

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A lot of people read the Getting Things Done (GTD) book and like the concepts that are presented but are at a loss as to how to get started. In GTD, David Allen does not espouse a specific system of productivity but rather provides guidelines for how to execute a system that you need to create. The biggest issue I hear from friends and family who have read the GTD books is that there is too much going on in their lives right now to get a system started, making GTD a great idea but too hard to put into pratice.

Unless you are a C-level executive and can afford someone from Davidco to come over and coach you through the conversion, getting started with GTD can be a formitable barrier. In the next four Wednesday posts, I will lead you through one way to get started with GTD by taking the essential GTD principles and presenting a simple system you can use right away to start putting them into practice.  This simple system is not “true GTD,” but rather a short -cut to help you get started.  As you master each small part, you should read the GTD book and upgrade your GTD system.

In this first post, we are going to tackle getting control of your inputs, those things that are coming at you that you need to get done that are keeping you from getting your system developed.

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So I was doing my normal scanning of my RSS feeds in iGoogle, when I found an article on Lifehacker.com called, GTD:How To Fail at Getting Things Done.  As a GTD black belt,  jumped over to read the article (which was a good article).  In the article there is a link regarding the Weekly Review.  I clicked it, only to find that it led me to my own comments about the Weekly Review, from a previous Lifehacker back in July.

Referenced by Lifehacker.com?   Check.

Now that makes for a good weekend…

I love Remember The Milk (RTM). It’s a ToDo list Web2.0 service. It is a linchpin of my GTD system. Today, the fine folks Down Under, released some software updates to the system.

The whole list can be found here, but some of my favorites include:

• Wide Screen Support. At home I have a modest 19″ wide screen monitor, but at work I have a beefy 24″ widescreen monitor. RTM now has a wide format for accommodating wide-screen monitors. It is nice, and the extra real estate is used well.
• Tags Now Visible In Task List. Tags are a must for me, as I use them to establish relationships between certain tasks, and for use in Smart Searches. Now the tag names appear in-line with the task name, as well as off to the side, in the information box.
• Tag Management. A new Settings screen that allows for better management of tags. You can now merge synonymous tags. You can delete tags you no longer want, and you can create new tags on the spot. I spent 10 minutes cleaning up my tags.

If you are looking for a To Do list manager that is chocked full of features, and easy to use, get over to RTM and check them out.

“I didn’t spend all those years playing Dungeons and Dragons and not learn a little something about courage.” — X-Files
That quote has been a running joke in my gaming group for years, but as I started to create Encoded Designs with its dual emphasis on creativity and productivity, I began thinking about the fact that I have transfered ideas and skills from the business world to enhance my gaming style and techniques. Then, just the other day I asked myself, was there anything I have learned from my years playing RPGs that would apply to the business world? So, I started to put a few ideas together, and soon I realized that a number of skills I utilize at work started behind the GM Screen.

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