How I Get Things Done

February 18th, 2008

It’s been a couple years since I first heard of “Getting Things Done” by David Allen, and found the website 43folders.com. I thought it is about time I chimed in to the soup of GTD fanboys and share my system and how it works for me. For the uninitiated this will not be a course in Getting Things Done but more a description of how I have implemented the concepts in my life.

Ubiquitous capture has been the hardest part of the system for me. I’ve tried the hipster pda, a moleskine, pagepacker and several other ideas, but nothing really seemed to be perfect. To be honest I still don’t think I’ve have perfect soulution to this entire problem but I have a system that works. I carry an iPod touch and a small notebook with me at all times. These serve as my capture devices to write down ideas, todos and whatever else I might need. I then imput these items in to my computer, a 15in mackbook pro running 10.5 and Midnight Inbox. I enter items from my capture devices into Midnight Inbox using the quicknote feature, likewise if I’m at my computer I enter items directly into Inbox.

Email is another creature all together and I really should spend some more time working on my strategy for dealing with email. Most of the email that comes into my inbox is just support information or documents pertaining to a project or action already in Inbox. I have setup 3 folders in my mail application. These folders are the following Action, Hold and Archive. If the mail message itself contains information that is actionable or support information to a current action the it goes in the action folder. If the mail message contains a file that is support information then it is filed under the project name in my a-z file.

My a-z file has 2 incarnations. One being for paper documents and the other for digital documents. In my Documents folder on my mac I have 27 folders. A 0-9 folder and a individual folder for each letter of the alphabet. I store all my files here based on project or general classification but not by file name. There are a couple letters I use more than others so I have Quicksilver triggers assigned to those folders for quick and easy access.

Each projects and actions are in Midnight Inbox and have links if needed to the support documents in my a-z file. I really don’t like paper, and every time someone tries to send me some thing in a paper document I ask if it is possible to send it digitally instead. It is good to stream line your system when ever possible. Honestly I don’t remember the last time I had something really had to use paper from the start to finish of a project. Just in case I do have an a-z folder system in my filing cabinet and four stacked inboxes on my desk. On top is my Inbox, next is my Outbox, next is hold/waiting/ and on the bottom is my Read/Review box. I don’t use these very often but sometimes I deal with someone that is not comfortable with electronic documents.

That’s pretty much it. Not too fancy, which I think is beneficial. Your system should be simple so you can spend most of your time Getting Things Done and less time organizing the information. I hope this was helpful and if you are interested in discussing this further feel free to ask a question in comments.

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