Feb
3
Written by:
xram net
2/3/2010 4:56 PM
I’ve flirted with the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology for almost two years now. Like many theories, it works great—in theory. What I eventually discovered was that, for me, if there’s no compelling reason to do something, I won’t do it. When I had just a handful of clients, there was no need for this sort of organization. But, as xramnet has grown, so have the responsibilities in terms of responsiveness, organization, and expectations—something my old “system” could not handle.
Luckily, I’m not alone in my quest for empty inboxes. I’ve spent two weeks using Jello Dashboard, and I love it. Built on top of the ExtJS framework, Jello finally gives me a reason to use the Home screen in Outlook.
So, now my mornings look like this:
- Get a cup of coffee
- Go through my inbox—not reading, but tagging—into piles to be dealt with
- Head to work
- Sit down (with another cup of coffee) and tackle each area that has to-do items
I’ve found that it cuts down on the distracting habit of dropping everything else when a new email comes in. Plus, it’s an incredibly good feeling to know that new (and important) requests won’t get lost in the noise.