Rhoneisms

Despite the tongue in cheek title, It was actually fascinating reading Bill Gates explaining his org-fu. Seems he subscribes to several of the leading edge workplace principles that many have been saying for years. Two screens increase productivity but research shows three screens are ideal. Check. Search for files instead of digging for them. Check. In e-mail, use filtering and rules to pick out the melody from the noise, respond with appropriate action and spend time on the ones that matter most. Check. Check. Check. He is not so big on paper but believes in the power of the whiteboard for brainstorming. All in all seems like he is on top of his game.
Go Billy. Play on playa! Don’t let Da Man hold you back… Oh, you are Da Man… My bad.
Go check out the article at CNN Money. It is worth the read.

Just a note to let my readership know that there is some testing going on with the server side of things. Therefore, if you see any strange posts, ignore them and they will be deleted soon.

I am back from vacation in Florida. We had a fabulous time. It was the first vacation that we have taken as a family since Bethany’s addition into it. Bethany and I also noted that it is the first “real” vacation that we have taken together as every other trip we have taken (and we have taken a lot) has involved work in some sort of way. Therefore, this was an extra special treat and I really feel rested for the first time in a while. Below is a link to some of the pictures taken. more will be going up soon.
Florida Trip 2006
Update: Second set of photos now posted – Florida Trip 2006 – Part 2

I know by now you may be tired of hearing about my ever tweaking org-fu. Therefore, I will point you to someone else’s. Emory has posted a detailed whitepaper of how he uses a mixture of low and hi tech to get things done. He is a great writer and it makes for an interesting and entertaining read. We have a bit in common. Like me he is a big fan of Backpack but he uses index cards (hipster pda) on the low tech end. One of the many favorite quotes:

“Working with index cards lets me be immediately ready to view all of my current tasks and projects, immediately discuss anything I’m working on with a manager or peer, and let me immediately brief anyone on the status of Project Y without keeping myself at a distance by using a laptop, pda, or otherwise removing myself from the equation.”

I dare say he almost has me wanting to give index cards a try again.
GTD LoFi HiFi Whitepaper

This evalis just to let everyone know that I am on vacation in Florida right now (which you could have checked by clicking on my “status” above) so postings will be light and e-mail responses slow. See you when I return this weekend.

Wow, Mac OS X version 10.0 was released 5 years ago today. ArsTechnica has a nice write up marking the occasion. Fave quote:

“The original Mac users had a very different experience. Back then, the Mac wasn’t a seductive whisper; it was a bolt of lightning, a wake-up call, a goddamn slap in the face. “Holy crap! This is it!” Like I said, transformative. For the rest of the computing world, that revelatory moment was paced out over an entire decade. The experience was diluted, and the people were transformed slowly, imperceptibly.“

Five years of Mac OS X

Earlier, in highlighting this excellent series at 43 Folders on getting your inbox to zero, I mentioned that I do this. I process all incoming e-mail and keep my inbox at or very near zero messages daily. While I could never match the genius of Merlin (most of the tips and tricks I will state here are taken from his ious posts on the subject) I felt I would break my e-mail fu down for inspiration to those who doubt it is possible.
Now, let me go on to say that there are many out there (Princess Bethany for instance) that function perfectly well with a few hundred e-mails in their inbox. That may work for you and you are not overwhelmed by that kind of e-mail pile. It is OK. I’m keepin’ it real. There is no right or wrong. No shame or blame.
I was not one of those people. I used to average 300 plus e-mails in my inbox. Some of them languishing for weeks before I got to them and responded in some way, if I got to them at all. Most often I would forget I even got that simple client question or e-mail from a friend I have not corresponded with in a while. Basically, a lot of balls were often dropped because I was never really certain what really needed my attention and what was just noise.
Here is what I did to get back in control:
First step… Get to know your “Delete” key. It is in a three way tie with for the best productivity tool ever with the Trash Can and the word “No”. You will use this key for a vast majority of the e-mail that you receive. The junk, the special offers from the companies you have purchased products from, the joke e-mails that your “friends” blast you with – all of these should be blasted into the ether almost as soon as you receive them (of course, you could always unsubscribe and tell your friends to take you off those ridiculous mailings to begin with).
Next, the setup. I basically use a version that was originally outlined in and article in Macworld magazine by Merlin Mann titled “The inbox makeover”. My setup is an almost exact duplicate of that one so go check it out for the fine details. I have the following folders on my IMAP account so it is the same no matter what computer I am using:
Inbox – Where it all comes in. I respond to the ones that take a minute or less when processing
@Action – For anything requiring a quick response that I don’t do as soon as it comes in
@Hold – Receipts, shipping confirmations, or anything I want to hold for a short period before archiving.
@Respond – For anything that requires a longer than 2 minute response or further research before responding.
@Waiting – For items that require something from someone else before I can respond.
Archive – Everything ends up here.
See, I told you it was a copy of Merlin’s system. It does have one slight modification. I have swapped the uses of Action and Respond as those terms make more sense to me this way. Also, the “@” signs are simply there to make things sort above the Archive folder, otherwise Apple’s Mail insists on sorting alphabetically.
Here is how this works in practice:

1. E-mail arrives in the Inbox.
2. I evauate the e-mail and decide if I should delete it, archive it, sort it into one of the other folders or reply to it.
3. If it requires a quick reply, and I have the time, I reply to it and then Archive it.
4. If this is not the case then it is sorted into one of the other folders as appropriate. For instance, if it requires a short response I stick it in the Action folder, longer responses in the Respond folder, etc. I cull these folders regularly as time allows. If I get a 15 minute chunk of time then I go through my Action folder and fire away at those for instance.
5. Once an e-mail is responded to it is moved into Archive.

I also use some other strategies to keep things under control. For instance, not checking my e-mail regularly. I have my mail program check for new mail once an hour. That way, I can process in chunks rather than nibbling away at each mail as it arrives like some sort of Pavlovian experiment. I check my e-mail at the office even less frequently. The urgent stuff there people call me for anyway. I also use my Gmail account for most online signups in order to reduce the semi-junk (special offers and announcements) I receive and I only check that every few days. I use filters to sort the couple of mailing lists I am on and run through those as time allows.
The bottom line is that every email that comes in has some sort of decision made about what to do with it and dealt with accordingly. This starts with the simplest of questions – “Does this require action?” If the answer is no then I delete or archive it immediately. That reduces a good 60% of the e-mail that comes into my Inbox. If the answer is “yes” then I make strategic choices based on time and resources on how to respond to the e-mail.
It really is that simple my friends.

Very interesting social website called We Are What We Do. This idea goes like this, it has a list of actions we all can do to make the world a better place. For Instance, planting a tree (improves the environment) or taking a bath with someone else (saves water, energy and promotes romance). Do one of the items and you can check it off and see the number of others who have done the same. It is like Digg crossed with GTD crossed with crunchy progressive feel good social action. Great idea.

I have the following quote in the body section of the front “Today” page of my Backpack list:
Begin nothing until you have considered how it is to be finished
I have no idea who it is attributed to. I found it a few weeks ago in a fortune cookie. While it is not really a fortune it is good advice none the less. A good way to start prioritizing the daily tasks.

Merlin is up to his old tricks again. This time he is running a series on how to release your inner email-fu and get that inbox under control and down to zero… That’s right, zero e-mail in your inbox.
Sounds like a dream to some of you right? It did to me once as well. I thought the idea of processing 100% of e-mail that I received, being quick and nimble with that processing and keeping both my work and home e-mail inboxes at or very near zero all of the time was impossible. I am here to tell you that not only is it possible but it is very liberating and emotionally validating to have that zen like control over the center of your communicative world (For most of us, this is what e-mail is). Almost all of my tactics |were developed by practices I learned from other posts on the subject that Merlin has done in the past.
So, if you have ever wanted to achieve what I have, I could not think of a better place to start.
43 Folders Series: Inbox Zero

In the future, perhaps I will outline my own e-mail-fu, learned from many masters, which involves an IMAP account, 5 folders and a lot of hard line mercenary style choices made with split second precision. My e-mail fu is strong.