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.

 

An interesting new GTD application

I've just been reading up on an interesting approach to tackling the Getting Things Done (GTD) - it's called "Wrike" and it looks very intriguing. They say they will save you 30 minutes a day if you use their tools properly.

Wrike is a web-based application, so you'll need internet access to use it, but that also means you can use it from anywhere. You get a simple "dashboard" to create and manage tasks, as well as reporting on future and completed tasks and projects. You can use tags and create heirarchical relationships to make it easier to group your activities.

Of course, Wrike wasn't specifically written for Getting Things Done, but they've recently posted great guidelines for how to use Wrike for GTD.

One of the more interesting features is the ability to create new tasks, projects, and delegation assignments via email. You compose an email to Wrike and the system uses that email to drive the task:

"Create a message with a task to one of your friends. Put wrike@wrike.com in the CC field and add the due date [yyyy-mm-dd] in the subject line. The template due date is currently shown as tomorrow. Then hit the send button.

Within next several minutes both of you will get an invitation from the system. You and your friend will be able to keep track of this task together. If the task is not marked completed by the due date, Wrike will remind both of you about it."

According to their documentation, you don't need to be online to update and manage these tasks - you receive email notifications, and can update the rest of your team via email through Wrike. Hard to visualize? Click here to see a video demo of Wrike in action.

They offer a free version and a Pro version ($5 per month) for individuals, as well as several flavors of team-oriented packages. For more info on pricing or to sign up, check out Wrike's pricing page.

I haven't really used this yet, since I tend to be more of an "offline" or Outlook-centric kind of person for GTD, but would love to hear your stories if you decide to use it. The free version should make it a safe experiment for the curious and adventurous souls among you.

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Voice mails of mystery

I leave and receive lots of voice mail messages. One of my pet peeves: voice mails of mystery. These are cryptic messages in which the caller doesn't give me enough information. You know the type - a name and a phone number, with no other context for why they are calling. Is this a sales call? A friend of a friend trying to connect with me? A wrong number? If I can't tell, I typically delete them.

These types of messages have made me more conscious of the content of the messages I leave for others. I try to follow this general recipe for voice mails I leave:

  1. State who I am and where I am from
  2. State why I am calling
    1. High level - not too much detail, but enough to get their attention
    2. Bonus: a punchy point about what I can do for you, or other "What's in it for you?" points
  3. Provide a bit of context (how I found your name, any time urgency, any drivers you may care about - such as whether this is customer-related, etc.)
  4. Provide information on how to reach me - both by phone and email - for best results, say them clearly and say them twice

I also find it useful to say something like, "If you're not the right contact, I'd really appreciate your help in getting to the right person."

All of this can be completed in 20-30 seconds. If it takes you longer than that, practice condensing you point and key messages until you can do it within 30 seconds consistently.

And smile - it really helps. I also suggest leaving yourself a voice mail as if you were trying to get your own attention and see if you'd call yourself back. Try to be objective when you audit your own message.

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SpeedFiler 2 is a boon to email filing

I recently upgraded to version 2 of Speedfiler from Claritude Software. I've been a loyal v1 user for a long time now, and it's an awesomely easy way to file Outlook emails. If you're a version 1 user, you'll find that version 2 is much faster to load, and it has an eerily accurate ability to predict what folder you want to file messages in, even if they are on a new topic. I'm not sure how it does it, but it is way cool.

A full list of features is available on Claritude's site. Version 1 users can also find out what's new in v2.

Outlook's clunky old filing

If you ever use Outlook's [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[V] keystroke combo to move messages to filing folders, you know that it is a good habit to develop, but it requires a lot of steps if you use subfolders (the Outlook UI is a little clunky). I've been using this since I got hooked on David Allen's "Getting Things Done".

If, for example, I want to use the traditional Outlook UI to file a message in a folder called Inbox/Customers/Fictional, I have to:

    1. type [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[V] to get the move dialog,
    2. type "IN" to get to the Inbox folder,
    3. hit the [Right] arrow to expand the subfolders under the Inbox,
    4. type "Cust" to get to the Customers Folder,
    5. hit the [Right] arrow to expand the subfolders under Customers,
    6. type "Fict" to get the the Fictional folder,
    7. hit [Enter] to save the message to that folder.

SpeedFiler's better way

SpeedFiler replaces Outlook's dialog for filing. To do the same thing with SpeedFiler, I would:

  1. type [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[V] to get the move dialog,
  2. type "Fict" to get the the Fictional folder,
  3. hit [Enter] to save the message to that folder.

Much easier, and a lot less hand movement. By the way, you don't have to start with the first letter of the folder name. For example, if you have a folder called TwilightZone, you can just type "Zone" and it will show up in the list. This is handy when you can't remember the precise folder name but you know one word that is in the folder name.

Another cool thing - if you have multiple folders with similar names, SpeedFiler narrows down the list as you type - you can see an example in the screenshot I snagged and posted here, in which I begin to narrow down my various "...reference..." folders.

Other tips and observations:

  • SpeedFiler helps with retrieval
    • One of the drawbacks of filing is that it gives you more folders to navigate through when you want to retrieve things. SpeedFiler helps there - their CEO, Itzy Sabo, turned me on to a very cool shortcut:
  • When you want to navigate to one of your folders, hit [Ctrl]+Y, and the SpeedFiler dialog pops up and you can start typing to narrow down the folder you want to go to. When you've typed enough, hit [Enter] and you're looking at your folder. Beats the heck out of mouse-based navigation. Itzy's blog has some great productivity articles, as well.

So - what's the big deal?

As David Allen says in his book, filing needs to be easy or it won't get done consistently. SpeedFiler makes it easier to do mundane filing, therefore it is more likely you'll file things consistently.

If you're an Outlook user (using Getting Things Done or not), I recommend you give it a whirl and download the 30-day trial of SpeedFiler.

By the way, I use SpeedFiler in conjunction with ClearContext (which I've also written about), and the two work flawlessly together - there are some instances when I use topics with ClearContext, and others when I want to hit [Ctrl]+[Shift]+V to invoke SpeedFiler to do the job.

Other, gadget-related items

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Digby - Blackberry’s best friend?

I've been using a handy new utility called "Digby" that lets me find gift ideas, send gifts to people, and that sort of thing - right from my Blackberry. Digby is a Blackberry-only application that provides a great front-end for a bunch of merchants. As you can see, they use a dog's paw as their logo, so I think you're supposed to think of Digby as a faithful companion that fetches things for you.

You start by browsing for categories (wine, chocolates, gift baskets, romantic gifts, electronics, music, etc.) and then you're presented with selections from their partner merchants.You can get descriptions, pictures (in some cases), and prices for a wide variety of gifts and place the orders in a quick, easy process.

You can see a demo of Digby in action, or get an overview of features at the Digby demo page.

I'm not sure how the service will expand over time, but its current selections seem like they're most useful for people who send gifts professionally - to clients, prospects, and business associates. And, for those occasions when you need to make a deposit in your spouse or special friend's emotional bank account, there are categories in Digby which are fit for that purpose (gift ideas for her, gifts for the man who has everything, gifts for two...).

You can check out the app for free (you don't even have to sign up to browse the categories and merchants) by pointing you Blackberry at http://www.digby.com/download - it's quick and easy to install and give it a spin. Who knows - once you take Digby home, you just may want to keep him.

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One-liners for life

I just discovered a very cool idea, courtesy of Gretchen and The Happiness Project.  For the last year, she's been keeping a One Sentence Journal for a year now - I am very intrigued, and thinking of doing the same.  Consider this, from her post:

"Each night, I write one sentence (well, actually, usually it's three or four sentences, but by calling it a "one sentence journal" I keep my expectations realistic) about what happened that day to me, the Big Man, and the girls.

Right now, I can't imagine forgetting the time when the Little Girl said politely, "Can I have some more pajamas on my pasta?" when she meant "parmesan," but I will, I will."

Don't know about you, but I think that's pretty cool.  She also has plans to create bound books of the sentences for her girls and her husband.  Check out the details in her post.

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