The principles of Getting Things Done (GTD) is an organisational method created by David Allen which a basically the philosophy of prioritizing your actions so that you are more in control of the increasing information overload. This results in increased efficiency, productivity and less stress!
One of the primary productivity reducing factors facing office workers is the amount of information that is received daily in their inbox. A secondary negative factor is the inability to quickly retrieve stored information.
The suggested way to overcome and control this information is to apply the following email evaluation principles;
By following the above evaluation and action process the inbox of the officer will be reduced considerably and will often reach the Inbox Zero ultimate aim.
The stored information is placed into a single Outlook folder. The secret is to use Search Folders which will automatically file the emails into sub folders based on categories, dates, keywords, senders, recipients etc.
Often a particular email is relevant to more than one purpose. In the typical approach the Officer has to try and remember under which folder they stored a particular email.
The use of Search folders allows the one email to be linked to multiple locations making it much easier to find but also maintaining more accurate/complete information pertaining to a particular topic.
The GTD Toolbar
The GTD Toolbar was created to allow for the easy application of the GTD principles. It has the following functions available
Create Task (Delegate Task) – This will create an Outlook Task in relation to the highlighted email. It will ask how many days until the task is due. If the due date falls on a weekend it will default to the following Monday.
Create Appointment (Defer Task) – This allows the creation of an Outlook Appointment so that the required action can be deferred to a more suitable time. You can select multiple emails for adding to the one appointment.
Tag and File (Store) – This will allow the allocation of categories to the highlighted emails. It will then move the emails into the Filing Cabinet folder.
Save Attachments – Save attachments from the highlighted emails.
Set Category – Add Categories to the highlighted emails.
Rename Subject – Edit/Rename the subject of an email.
Move to Filing Cabinet – Move highlighted emails to the Filing Cabinet folder.
Categories
Delete the default categories that you do not need. Identify the key categories that you need to enable the creation of an efficient filing system based on your role.
You do not need to be too specific with the categories as you can combine the category with key words, dates, From etc to enable the creation of multiple sub folders.
Search Folders
To create a Search Folder right click on Search Folders under the Filing Cabinet folder and select New Search Folder.
You can use the standard searches or you can create your own.
To create your own select Create a custom Search Folder, then select Choose.
Give your Search folder a name then select the Criteria button. There are many options to choose from but the main ones are keywords, From, Sent To, Time and Categories. You can have more than one parameter
By editing the Subject of an email you can then ensure accurate keyword filtering.
Your email that is stored in the Filing Cabinet folder will now be accessible in one or more Sub Folders depending on their matching the specified Search Folder criteria.
As search folders are only links to a document it also enables the use of a more efficient filing system without the need to duplicate files, saving bandwidth and storage costs.
Example
You receive a monthly report on 31 May called “West Coast Sales Report”
You tag it with the category West Coast and it is automatically saved to the Filing Cabinet folder.
You create a Search Folder for the West Coast category. You also create a keyword based Search Folder for Sales Report and another for the keyword Report received between 1 May and 31 May.
The one file is now accessible under each of the following three Search Folders, enabling it to be retrieved from multiple locations relevant to its multi faceted purpose.
- West Coast
- Sales Report
- Reports – May 2010
More Info
The following websites have more information on the GTD subject.
- Davidco
- Zen Habits
- 43 Folders Well worth spending the 50 minutes to watch this video