Discoveries of the day

WOWNDADI (Work Out What Needs Doing and Do It! Living a Productive Life) has written another excellent article about Frogs, Gnats, Butterflies and Gems, and how they masterfully disguise themselves so we won’t recognize their true identity.

That article mentioned a blog I don’t know how I’ve missed until now: Simple Productivity has a wonderful series about simplifying inboxes. It’s amazing how many there can be!

Top 100 Web Applications

From Webware.

Discovery of the day

Great articles at Morris Institute for Human Values including Avoiding the Wrong Goals and The Definition of Insanity via Exceptional Dental Practice Mangagement.

Information and Findability

Like talents that are never found or expressed, like ideas that languish and are lost, “Information that’s hard to find is information you can’t use.” -Peter Morville, author of “Ambient Findability.“

This is something that fascinates me about productivity and information. Productivity methods enable us to save information so that we can find it again when needed. Blogging is a very effective way of doing this. And information can be valuable indeed.

It also fascinates me the way we sometimes find the most interesting information in a very serendipitous way. I read the above quote from a blog in my feedreader and it aroused my curiousity to Google the name, which led me to Findability.org. There I found a post that mentioned an article “Being Shallow” by Grant Campbell at boxesandarrows. It deals with the difficulty of “doing it all” and the advantages of focusing. One of the most commented posts there is “Comics: Not Just for Laughs” by Rebekah Sedaca, which talks about comics as an effective way to communicate.

Back to findability

See the honeycomb diagram in the article User Experience Design at Semantic Studios.

Is this site?

• useful-providing innovative solutions?
• desirable-visually attractive and a clear brand?
• accessible-designed for access for all?
• credible-providing regular, dependable information?
• findable-

• can users find the site?
• can users find their way around the website?
• can users find info on the site despite the website?

• usable-user friendly?
• valuable-advancing the mission through the user experience?

“Findability precedes usability. In the alphabet and on the Web. You can’t use what you can’t find.” - Peter Morville

The portable gtd mini system

The newly spiffed up paper planner for the weekly review is working well. I found nifty slash pockets that fit the planner to hold the frequently changing lists.

The next step was to think about what the minimum elements were that I need to carry with me daily. I found a 2007 monthly calendar form at DIYPlanner that works well for me-that goes in the top slot of my index card holder. Then I discovered I could make mini-folders out of notecards that slip inside the holder. There are 4 mini-folders:

1. Next actions/incoming
2. Projects
3. Ideas (someday/maybe)
4. Information

Inside these are lists printed out from my Yahoo notepad. (any list application would work for this) This is a great capture/collection tool, as well as providing the information I need for planning on the fly. It works well in tandem with the desk paper planner and the lists on the computer.

During this process, I’ve updated the Daily Review and the Incoming Tasks cards. All nine updated information cards are now available here in one pdf file.

Hop to it!

That’s Brian Tracy’s advice in the book “Eat That Frog!”

Eat That Frog!	Like to do	Don’t like to do
Need to do	gems	frogs
Don’t need to do	butterflies	gnats

Watch out for the frogs! is an excellent post about this topic at WOWNDADI.

An Eat the frog this week pdf form is one of several available at Take Charge Solutions.

Contexts

I want to highlight a comment by Andy of Naunce Labs that just might make me re-think my opinon of contexts. (darn it!) By the way, I’m very intrigued by what they are working on there and will be watching for what they come up with. Here’s what Andy had to say about contexts:

As a GTD freak maybe I can shine some extra light.

Contexts are important because they are an axis just like your time and your energy should be axes too. You may have access to a computer and a phone 24×7, but you’re not always talking, and you’re not always typing.

When you do want to make calls, it’s good to see what’s available within that specific context of telephony. You should also pay attention to how much time and energy it will require you to do an item while at that context.

If you have a lot of time but no energy that automatically scopes you into a certain flow. You’re not going to want to make two huge client calls, you’re going to want a series of low hanging fruit / easy wins.

It’s one of the more interesting things that isn’t written as much as David says at seminars but you need to be aware of the other things that make sorting, defining, and doing, those lists easier. That’s being more aware of your own state at the time of decision making.

A lot of applications/solutions forget this part and thus fall back into the ‘each list is either attracting or repelling you’, which most of us are probably being repelled by our solutions.

The idea of paying attention to amount of available energy as well as to the amount of available time is good to be reminded about. This was in the workflow chart I recently mentioned….sometimes I need to see/hear stuff several times before I get it!

See Also at Naunce Labs: The Basics of Getting Things Done

Additional Reading: Contexts at OrganizeIt

A paper planner tool for the weekly review

My paper planner has been gathering dust for quite awhile now as I switched to other tools which are more portable and practical. Lately I’ve been thinking it could become a tool to use at my desk for the weekly review. This should clarify the process for me and make it more visual. It needs spiffing up to be more attractive, so a trip to the office supply store will be needed to replace tabs with ones that aren’t worn and that are customized to my needs.

Set Up Part One

Permanent printable 4×5 cards with general information to consult on each process:

• Daily (to-dos/next actions, use the terminology you like):
  • Daily Review
  • Incoming Tasks
  • Setting Priorities
  • Time Wasters
  • Matrix Chart
  • Repeating Tasks
• Calendar
  • Weekly Review
  • Weekly Plan
  • Project Plan
• Projects/Goals
• Follow Up (Waiting for/Pending)
• Ideas (Someday/Maybe)
  • Evaluate

Set Up Part Two

Personal lists that change frequently:

• Next Actions or tasks
• Repeating tasks for work
• Projects
• Goals
• Follow up
• Mission statement
• Ideas

These I keep in Yahoo notepad to be easily updated, but often forget to look at them. I will make it part of the weekly review to print these out. This will make them more visually accessible than a computer list and more visually attractive than a hand-written, scribbled up paper version. Adhesive plastic pockets (for business cards or floppy disks) will be applied to appropriate index tab dividers to hold these 3×5 print-outs. I may try printing out two copies, one for the desk planner and one to carry with index cards in a holder.

Update: The portable gtd mini system includes nine information cards in one pdf file. I found slash pockets for the planner that work well for the frequently changing lists.

GTD made visual

At Zen Habits Massive GTD Resource List, I stumbled upon three great workflow charts that make my attempt at understanding what GTD looks like appear quite pitiful. Whoever is behind them has done a wonderful job of making GTD visual. Start with Collection, Processing & Organizing, then check out Daily Review and Actions and Weekly Review and Actions. Amazingly helpful.

Scott Moehring created another excellent GTD advanced workflow chart (found at Get Rich Slowly, initially discovered at DIYPlanner) The tips at the bottom are especially neat, don’t miss them.

I also want to mention a very nice weekly form which I’ve added to the free tools page that was developed by Stephen at HD BizBlog. He also has a very good Weekly Review Checklist.

Discovery of the day

I discovered Exceptional Dental Practice via The Happiness Project. You might be thinking about now, “why would I be interested in a blog about dental practice?” And so I’ll tell you: great writing on topics that range from customer service to teamwork and communication. She jokes about how boring the name is, and that she should have called it something more like Oral Fixation! The Happiness Project has a wide variety of well-written information too.