Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

Jott a note to yourself

In my last post, I talked about using "notes to yourself" as a means to build fodder for status reports, track completed activities, etc.

Another tool in the arsenal for this is "Jott" - a free service I found out about a couple of months ago through Big Wes when he commented about it in response to one of my posts.

Jott is a service that allows you to call a phone number and leave a voice message to yourself or any number of predefined recipients (or groups of recipients via a Jottcast). After you leave your "Jott," the service converts it to text and sends it to you or your chosen recipient via email. Very cool. They even provide a link to listen to the original audio recording in case you suspect something's gone awry in the translation.

As with the method of sending an email to yourself, this just becomes a part of your inbox processing workflow (a la GTD) and you can act on or file the email as appropriate.

I have a speed dial key on my Blackberry to make it easier to use this - I just hold down J, and it connects me to Jott. Simple as can be, and easy to incorporate into my habits.

By the way - Jott continues to improve the service and make it even more user-friendly. They've already done a "version 2" upgrade since I've been using it.

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Keeping a running tab of what you’ve done

Some people are "score keepers" and others are not. I'm not. What I mean by this is that I am not very good at keeping track of all the specific things I've done, helped with, written, etc. - it's something about the way I'm wired (I also don't easily hold grudges, either, so there is an upside to not being a "score keeper").

However, this tendency can make it difficult when it's time to write a monthly status report / recap - I often find myself having a difficult time retracing my steps and creating a list of the things I've done for the past month, quarter, etc.

Archaeology is not easy

In the past when I sat down to hammer out a status report, I relied on my "Sent Items" in Outlook, a scan of completed items on my Task list, and other artifacts of my work. However, I often engage in things that aren't on my Task list, or don't involve email.

Recently, I've adopted a new technique (and am on my way to developing a new habit) that makes the bookkeeping a bit easier.

Note to self...

Now, when I do something significant (a phone conversation, a meeting, completing a project, making a significant contribution to a project, etc.) I send myself an email to create an artifact of that activity or milestone. I almost always have the means to send myself a note, either via my Blackberry or through Outlook.

When I process my Inbox, I file them in a time-labeled Status subfolder. For example, I do monthly status reports so I have folders under status called Apr07, May07, etc.

As I process my inbox, I can use ClearContext to file it by assigning "Status/Apr07" as the message's topic, or simply hit [Ctrl]+[Shift]+V, and typing "Apr07" and letting Speedfiler drop it into the appropriate folder.

Then, when I sit down to write my status report, I simply go to that folder and use the data there to complete my status report.

I can imagine variations on this theme that would be helpful, as well - you could create subfolders under Status for Projects, Clients, or other target audiences to help create an easy recap.

A nuance when dealing with support material

One subtelty about this is you sometimes have "support material" in your email inbox - do you file the support material in your Status folder, or do you just send a note?

As a die-hard GTD'er I favor leaving the support material in a Topic-based reference folder (Articles/Change Management), and sending yourself a note that you've completed something ("Completed article on Change Management for IT Auditor Magazine").

The hardest part

The hardest part of this (as with any system-based trick) is to develop the habit of sending these status notes. You can remind yourself by putting a calendar entry or a reminder into your system to say "Hey - did you do anything worthy of a status note today?"

Got any tricks that work for you? Let me know.

Related items:

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Fresh Gear: The flattest wallet ever

For the past several years, I've been a "front pocket wallet" kind of guy. However, I found that my front pocket wallet was growing thicker, and that I couldn't significantly downsize it because I have a need for more cards of various kinds.

I also don't like a big, thick back pocket wallet because I find them uncomfortable and unsightly. If you've ever seen the Seinfeld episode where George's wallet explodes because he puts in just one too many receipts, you'll know what I mean.

Thin is in (my pocket)

I recently found just the solution: the "All-ett" wallet, which claims to be the world's thinnest wallet. I've been using it for a little more than a month and I am so happy with this wallet!

It's made out of spinnaker sail cloth, which is a very thin and strong material (you can choose from a variety of colors - I went with black). In the picture at right (from the All-Ett site), both wallets contain exactly the same things. You can clearly see that the All-Ett, on the left, would be much more comfortable to have in your back pocket.

Curious how it works? Check out the demo at their site to see the flat wallet in action. There are also some good testimonials posted there.

Something for everyone

Check out the variety of products they offer - in addition to several types of wallets, they carry card cases, checkbook covers, and travel wallets.

Give it a try - there is a 30-day, unconditional money back guarantee, but I don't think you'll be sending this one back!

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Resources for the curious

Life's been busy this past week (include a complete rebuild of my laptop due to a bad memory chip, of all things), but I wanted to share a couple of useful resources I've been introduced to recently. Both are research-related, and definitely worth sampling.

  • The first is a Squidoo lens on internet research. I do a lot of internet research in the course of work and life, and I found some tremendous tidbits of wisdom here. You'll also find a list of "11 Search Tips" - I already knew some from the list, and learned some new things. One of my favorites is on there:
    • "Take advantage of "type of document" searches. For opinions search for PDF and Word Docs and for statistics look for XLS documents (include chart or graph in your search terms)."
I do this all the time, to great benefit - for example, you can do a search for '<person's name> ppt' to get any posted presentations they've done. You can find out a lot about what business people are up to by doing this - tremendously valuable for networking.
  • The next is a gadget/service called Clipmarks. Clipmarks is a great (free) way to catalog tidbits from your research. Plenty of other tools let you bookmark pages - this one is different. Sure, you can save a whole page, but the coolest thing is it allows you to grab portions of a web page so you can keep only the parts you care about. You can create public or private collections, and there are some built-in features to facilitate sharing.
You can use the Clipmarks web site, but I recommend installing the Clipmarks browser integration for maximum effect (IE and Firefox plugins are available, and the social browser Flock is supported).

Coming soon - I'm beta testing a site that will be an awesome resource to get good prices on airfare. More to come when it emerges from beta.

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GTD and ClearContext guidance

In the past, I've posted quite a bit on how I use ClearContext as a lever to become more effective with Getting Things Done.


If you'd like to benefit from some best practice documentation for using ClearContext with GTD, check out this awesome resource provided by Brad and the team at ClearContext. I was privileged to have the chance to review this before it went live, and I am very impressed with this clear, concise guide they've created.


The guide applies to both new (Outlook 2007) and older versions of Outlook (I use Outlook 2003) and is a must-have for any GTD'er that is using or considering ClearContext.