Going Paperless?

Having been out of the creative loop for a while now, I've managed to get back on top of the focus of what's important and working for me day to day.

Although I've not been talking much about it (more to come in later posts), I've been developing my paperless system to ensure I have what I need, whenever i need it, wherever I am (Very GTD).

My ScanSnap scanner and Evernote account are indispensable to deliver this for me.

However, I was excited to read today David Sparks (@macsparky) new book, Paperless on the iPad. It's a multimedia extravaganza and, as always, even just one top tip from David justifies the time spent on it. And believe me, there's a lot of top tips in here.

£2.99 or $4.99 from the iBooks store. Worth every penny.

Thanks David.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

Data Management and the Rent v Buy Model

Ownership and possession was once the goal.  This was at the time that possessions were hard to come buy and very hard earned.  As the 'wealth' of the average person increased the goal of possession became easier to attain.

However with the ownership of items came the relative devaluation of those items and in fact a negative aspect; clutter, disruption (potential loss) and lack of focus.  More items mean more work to manage them. (There are some noticeable exceptions to this such as home ownership in the UK where ownership fulfils a deeper security and stability need).

More and more people are now rejecting this model in favour of renting an item or service.  You only need to look at services such as Spotify for music or Netflix for movies.  Why own an item when, for a relatively low monthly charge, you can have access to whatever you need whenever you need it.  And most importantly, no storage, clutter and disruption for the other 364 days of the year that you don't.

In addition, the delivery of this information is through the web which arguably is available from almost anywhere rather than wherever the physical item is stored.

Is there an equivalent of this in the workplace?  I think there is and it centres around documents, data & information.  Working in an HR department, I have and need access to a whole host of information.  That used to mean cupboards and cabinets full of folders of information all neatly filed and stored for years to come.  It meant purchasing market data in books chocked full of raw data to be used once (if at all) for one off jobs.

Ownership meant management and potential distraction.  What I really want at work is an answer to my question, whatever question it happens to be at the time.  That answer will come from the information at hand.  I want it:

Unrestricted - Whatever data I need, is available, not just some of it
At point of application - wherever I happen to be at the time
In a timely manner - Accessible (& searchable) quickly enough to efficiently find what I want

(Some readers might find parallels in the above to the mantra, Right People, Right Place, Right Time)

This idea has the airs of "Paperless Office" but is more to do with "Online Document Management".  Although I don't think it will work in the corporate environment just yet, Evernote is a service I use in my home life which is accessible online, on a programme on my computer (for offline use) and on my mobile devices through an app.

This convenience is about unburdening yourself and therefore acting quicker and getting things done.

Have a think about it, do you really need to possess everything? Is a little bit of freedom and loss of burden in fact what you need right now?  What might you active instead!

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

(Photo by spykster via flickr used under a creative Commons Licence)

How best to start your day

I'm on holiday this week and can more easily reflect on the activities I do in a normal working week without the pressures of actually having to do them.

I'm a GTD'er and use products such as Omnifocus and techniques such as Pomodoro.  I also work in a global company so inputs come through to me 24hours a day even though I don't work 24 hours a day.  So how does it actually work for me.

My work email inbox is my primary inbox.  I also have a physical inbox on my desk but nowadays less and less come 'in' to me through this.

So what do I actually do when I first get into the office in the morning.  If you've read Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy, Rule 1 is to do the most difficult thing on your list first (before even reading your email).  In a similar vein, Tim Ferris states in his blog; One piece of advice for improving self-discipline: Spend the first two hours of every workday working on outstanding projects, before you check your e-mail.

I have to disagree with both.  Although I agree with the intent, I disagree with the fact that ignoring email is the right thing to do.  Based on the GTD methodology, you process all your inputs to ensure you are focussing on the right thing right now with no distraction.  With emails coming into me overnight, I can't be truly focussed until I have processed those overnight emails.

I have two rules for this method though:
1. You must only process, not jump into tasks based on those overnight emails.
2. Spend no more than 30 minutes on this activity.

This 30 minute rule is actually quite manageable if (and only if) you have processed your email at the end of the previous email to zero (See Merlin Mann's Google Talk on the subject here, essential viewing in my opinion).

I have a daily checklist that I try and adhere to as much as possible.  It goes:

8am: Turn on PC laptop and wait 15 minutes for it to load up and run all security checks, (all the time wishing I had an apple computer at work)
8:05am: Make myself a coffee.  Might as well do myself a favour to help my brain get into gear
8:10am: Process overnight email
8:40am: Write up a paper based todo today list (I use the downloadable Pomodoro one here) based on my Omnifocus lists and anything last minute or from the overnight email that is urgent
8:50am: Turn off email and do the work

I do turn the email back on periodically throughout the day (every hour or so) but having it off helps me to focus on the tasks to be done.  Having the paper based todo today list helps by avoiding the need to reference the computer unless it is required.

I don't look at Twitter or Facebook at all during the day but I do check my personal emails on my iPhone at lunchtime to give me a distraction and mental rest.

I try and stick as best as possible to the todo today list and get the activities completed.  I find that this is only achievable if I have completed the steps above at the start of the day.

Do I do this every day?, No.  Sometimes things just don't go right even at 8:01am but these are the exception rather than the rule and I reap the rewards because of it.  See if this commitment to starting the day the best way you can will help you.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

Checklists and OmniOutliner

A few weeks ago I talked about the use of checklists in the post Managing Standard Work and the use of them came to mind again yesterday with the release of OmniOutliner for iPad.

It occurred to me just how useful this new software is on the iPad.  Ignore its functionality, its integration with the desktop version and its simply great design that makes you want to pick it up and create something (any software that makes you want to work is great in my mind).

What struck me was that I now have the ability to have all my checklists with me at all times now with the 3G iPad.  Simply put all your checklists in an online folder using MobileMe iDisk or WebDAV and they are accessible to you wherever you are.

So next time you find yourself with some unexpected Standard Routine Work, no need to put it off, deal with it then knowing that you have the checklist at your fingertips to get it right first time.

Note: Although I am a huge fan of the Omni group and their products, I am not affiliated to them in any way.  I started using their products with OmniFocus, then the excellent OmniGraffle, OmniGraphSketcher and now OmniOutliner.  With their free trials and educational discounts on offer, its easy to give them a go.

Organising your work & OmniFocus

A few posts ago, I talked about the idea of organising your work in order to have clarity over what you need to do.  One such way is the simple paper and pen.  To be honest, I still revert back to that when I need to be free of distraction and get an idea, sketch, text or mind map out of my head and recorded somewhere.  Give me a yellow legal pad and pen and I'm happy.

On a side note, people always ask my why I use the more expensive yellow pads rather than cheaper white; its so that I can find my written notes amongst printed materials (which are practically always on white paper) when I'm working with hard copies. Call it a simple visual management system.

However when you need to organise this material, things get a little more complex and I really need a system to help me control it all. An online system gives one simple benefit; it's ability to edit the data within it and always show a 'clean' version. This is the downside of pen and paper, when you edit something, you can't clean up with original. A piece of paper fast becomes a clutter of ideas, scored out notes and modified sketches.

This clean data is what you want to see when you are in a position to act and do your work.

I use the excellent software programme OmniFocus (http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnifocus) across my Mac, iPhone and iPad.  It allows you to filter it all down into your next actions organised into categories that are relevant to you, giving you the prompts to act in the right place at the right time.

And the other advantage of it being on the computer, it is transferrable between all of your devices.  If you are like me, the phone never leaves your side so you'll always have the data to hand.

So do yourself a favour, have a system and most importantly, use it.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

Automate your standard routine work with Apple Automator

In a recent post, I talked about the idea of reducing your standard routine work and increasing the time available to focus on projects (non-routine work).

With this in mind, wouldn't it be great to reduce the actual time spent doing the same repetitive tasks.

On your apple you can. Automator is a tool that remembers a set of sets in a process and repeats them with one click. Think of them as a Macro that you find in excel. Their possibility is probably as large as your imagination of application.

Wouldn't it be great to remove all the repetitive tasks you complete each day with one click for each? Check it out and see what it can do for you today.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

When your IT tools do help you

This is my first dive into the huge (and often heated) discussion of what IT tools are there to help you.  This is such a subjective topic and before I start, I want to say one thing; Use what works for you.


I want to share with you what works for me.

Firstly, I use apple products.  I do also use a windows laptop (which I will refer to as my PC) and blackberry at work but my main activities other than the day to day PC based email and Microsoft office documents are done on my apple products.  I use 3: a macbook pro, an iPhone and an iPad.

Why do I use apple products?  Aren't they expensive you say?  Well yes they are, but they work consistently and beautifully.  If you are going to spend most of the day on a computer or mobile device of any description, wouldn't you want that experience to be as enjoyable as possible?

I pay more because I want to end the day as unstressed as possible having been as productive as possible.  I'm sorry, but Windows machines have never done that for me.  Apple products also become out of date less frequently and because they are generally well made, they last longer.  

You'll spend more up front but save money (and your sanity) in the longer term.

More next time on the software that I use.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.