The quest for productivity nirvana series, post #2 - Hard vs. Soft Landscape

March 9, 2007 by Kara.

As I think about my systems for completing tasks, managing projects, knowing when to be somewhere and where I’m going, there are a few elements which I know work really well for me.  However, I have even more which work terribly – fail completely on a regular basis.  I’ve done a great deal of thinking over the last several weeks trying to figure out what is wrong with my system.  This thinking has brought me to one conclusion.  My soft landscape is seeping out everywhere and is in terrible need of hardening up.

Let me begin by saying, I love my calendar.  I’m also a big fan of my contacts list (which contains a great deal more than contacts).  And, when it comes to checklists I’m your gal.  I am great with the hard landscape.   

I should start by saying that I use Outlook 2003 at work running on an Exchange Server.  I synchronize Outlook wirelessly to an Audiovox 6700 with Verizon.  I’ve tried the Netcentrics GTD plug-in with only limited success as well as Clear Context and I’ve tried three different Outlook Calendar to Google Calendar sync tools which have not worked as well as I would like.  Within Outlook I have a second calendar set up that I use to keep my personal notes from meetings and activities with which I’m involved.  Since I’m a chronic note taker this has been a nice way to streamline storage of my notes from meetings.  At the end of most days with a significant meeting, I print a copy of my secondary “Journal” calendar with the notes in them and file it in a binder by date.  I back up both my regular “public” calendar and my journal calendar weekly and restore the backup on my home machine so that I know the backup is good and I always have a second copy.

In using my Outlook calendar, I use color coding to help me determine work versus personal appointments.  I use my calendar to set reminders of all items with a due date.  If it has a due date – it goes on the calendar.  For large projects, I even set smaller deadlines along the way and place those on the calendar.  The long and short of it – if it’s on the calendar – meaning it has a due date – it gets done almost without question and with little chance that I’ll lose it or just forget it.

The next piece of my hard landscape – the piece that works really well – probably better than any other piece – is my Contact list.  I began using my Contacts in Outlook when I got my first copy of Office.  I’ve continued pulling my contacts forward from one version of Outlook to the next.  My Contacts are categorized by a number of different frequently used categories that I can use to print custom lists.  For example – I maintain a list of “Hot Contacts” (it is a standard Outlook category and I was too lazy to change it) – which I keep a copy of at home by my phone, in the car, in the back of my Moleskine, and by my phone at work.  It’s in every location I can put it where I might have to make a phone call.  But I don’t just use Contacts for “contacts”.  All usernames go in my contacts list along with a note that has the password in a special code.  All frequent flier numbers, banking information, and software registration codes are kept in contacts.  I like this method because all this information can be printed in short custom lists by sorting by category and printing just a segment of the list or I can print a hard copy of the entire set of information and keep it easily in a compact location like the fire safe at home. 

The final piece of my hard landscape that works is the checklists.  I have packing lists for trips, a checklist for emergency campus closings (I’m a small college facilities director), the list of software I install on a PC that I consistently update so if the machine crashes I can load the software back on – a checklist that came in incredibly useful when I bought a new laptop and wanted it set up just like my desktop PC. 

So – the hard landscape works great for me.

The problem is my soft landscape – that list of tasks without due dates, the list of projects that I want to do but haven’t spent time thinking about yet (because it’s still too frightening to think about), and all the rest of it – sits out there without a plan for completion and for me, so far, GTD just hasn’t been the key.  I need a way to take these soft items and turn them into hard – yet I’m not sure how to get that done.  I’ve started using My Life Organized for tasks which has helped probably more than anything as it forces you (or at least it makes me force myself) to do the thinking up front.  When you enter the project into My Life Organized, you enter it in the order you want to complete it and go ahead and set up all the subtasks – and you can see them as subtasks.  It’s very linear – but also allows for you to move things and change them around if you need to – far more flexible than the outlook task list for me.  More on that in future issues.

So there you have it – a brief overview of my current system structure and a statement of what works and what doesn’t.  But – as we all know – this is only a portion of the real system we use to operate our lives.  How does information get into our system – how does it get out.  That’s the focus of the next two articles in my series.  And I’ve thought about those articles in preparation for writing them it may not really be my task list that’s broken (and keep in mind I refer to my task list as the list of all my projects and next actions combined, including the someday/maybe list) – it may be the in and out of the system that’s really broken and not really the system.

What’s your system?  What works for you – what doesn’t?  Are you good with one piece bad with another? Always able to pull your 2^nd cousin’s birth date off your calendar, but forget to pack your shoes every time you travel?  Post a comment – let’s explore all of this together – and see if we can’t all reach productivity nirvana. 

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