J. Michael BrowningYou think your GTD (Getting Things Done) solution is bigger and better than mine? Well, it very well may be and I’m not ashamed to admit it. However, I will say that I’m quick to whip out my GTD solution and put it to work for me. And believe me, I’ve worked mine into the dirt just to have it spring back to action when any task or problem is dropped on my lap.
It wasn’t always that way.
I’m all about being productive, but the GTD process, to me, was like beating a dead horse. It took awhile for things to click, but it finally did. And now I can honestly say I’m not beating my GTD solution to death.
The Beginning
I’m quick to adapt new technologies into my workflow – both personal and professional – but I quickly tire or lose interest and find myself back to data-mining my E-mail. A solution that I believe worked well. It seemed as if I was able to keep up with important information and dates, with none to few falling through the cracks.
As I progressed through my career, however, it became clear that the growing amount of information I was responsible for would need to be maintained with a more direct, and manageable solution. Thus, my return to GTD.
The Solution
In the beginning, it was slow. I’d catch a video here or there about this method or that and I’d try to put forth some effort of implementing their solution in my day-to-day routine. The problem was, it seemed that many of these GTD solutions required much more work than just doing said task.
It was painful. It was agonizing. And I wanted out. But, I knew that if I was going to take control over my productivity and in turn boost my personal and professional successes, I needed to find a GTD solution that worked for me.
So, I did what I normally do in other situations. I began to pick out pieces from other solutions that I liked, and pieced together my own GTD solution.
Three apps, it seemed, would be the salvation of my productivity.
Alfred, Evernote, and OmniFocus.
Alfred
I’ve been using Alfred for a few years and had never really thought of it as the gateway to my GTD solution. Boy, was I wrong.
Initially I would only use as the majority would – an application launcher, calculator, dictionary … However, with the advent of Alfred v.2 and Workflows, I quickly saw the possibilities of streamlining many of my day-to-day tasks.
The cool thing about Alfred and its Workflows was that I could now bind many tasks that would normally take a bit of clicking with the mouse, to a quick keystroke. Here are a few that I’ve pieced together with the help of some great Applescript gurus out there. Keep in mind that the one’s I’m sharing play an intricate part in my GTD solution, and work together with the apps below.
Evernote GTD Workflow
The Evernote Workflow was created and is maintained by the talented Carlos A. Sztoltz.
You can read more about the workflow or download directly from below.
OmniFocus GTD Workflow
OmniFocus GTD Complete & Waiting for Reply
The first OmniFocus GTD Workflow I use on a continuous basis, is based on of Curtis Clifton’s “Waiting For” Applescript. I’ve converted it for my use as a “Complete & Waiting for Reply.” What this allows for is to select a task in OmniFocus, execute a keyboard shortcut, and have the selected task marked as complete, and a new task created with the above title and a due date two days out.
You can download the OmniFocus GTD Workflow or take a look at the script in it’s raw form below.
Download
OmniFocus GTD Completed Tasks to Evernote
This GTD work flow is based off of Ben Waldie’s Script. Here’s what he has to say about it:
The script now supports full project paths and additional task details including the context, estimated time, start date, modification date, completion date and notes. This additional content is optional, and you can adjust the script to not display it if you wish.
You can download the OmniFocus GTD Workflow or take a look at the script in it’s raw form below.
Download
RAW
OmniFocus GTD E-Mail to Task
Ah, now this one I could not truly live without. I found this one over at vemedio . This GTD Workflow takes the selected E-mail message and adds the subject automatically to the OmniFocus quick-add box. It also includes an app url that directs you back to the original E-mail message.
Once adding the task to OmniFocus, it archives the Mail message for you, helping you to achieve Inbox Zero.
You can download the OmniFocus GTD Workflow or take a look at the script in it’s raw form below.
Download
RAW
Example GTD Script Using Alfred
For those of you that don’t want to check out the links, here’s a quick view of the above OmniFocus GTD E-Mail to Task Workflow:
tell application "Mail"
set theSelectedMessages to selection
set the selected_message to item 1 ¬
of the theSelectedMessages
set message_id to the message id of the selected_message
set my_subject to the subject of the selected_message
set message_url to "message://%3c" & message_id & "%3e"
set _mb to mailbox of selected_message
set _acct to account of _mb
set _archive_box to _acct's mailbox "Archive"
tell application "OmniFocus"
tell quick entry
make new inbox task with properties {name:my_subject, note:message_url}
open
end tell
-- tab into subject pane
tell application "System Events"
keystroke tab
end tell
end tell
move selected_message to _archive_box
end tell
Download
RAW
Evernote
I’d been messing around with Evernote for a year or two before I truly understood its true potential and for it to find a home in my GTD toolbox.
It first clicked when I read David Allen’s (the man behind GTD) setup guide for Evernote. You can find it HERE. Once reading the guide, a lot of the practicalities of Evernote and how it applies to GTD began to shine through.
As both a personal and business user of Evernote, I’ve developed my system that seems to work for me. I’m not like many GTD users that have a limited number of notebooks, but I do use it in a way that makes it easy to navigate and find content when I need to.
Inbox
My main notebook is an @Inbox that I use for all open loops. All content, whether it’s going to end up in a personal or business notebook starts it journey here. It allows me to quickly capture ideas, notes, checklists, webpages and more and stores it in a place that allows me to decide at a later time what actions I should take.
Starting from the top, I work through every note in my @Inbox in a methodical manner twice a day – once in the morning and again in the afternoon. This ensures that I focus on all content consistently, and don’t give priority to one item over the other. There’s no picking and choosing here.
Tags
This is my method of choice for organizing beyond the notebook form. I have a few key tags that I use to decide the category the note falls under, and thus its priority.
I could list some of the tags that I use here, but everyone needs to setup this system as it applies to your workflow. However, I can tell you that I do not use these tags:
- NOW
- NEXT
- LATER
- SOMEDAY
- IMPORTANT
- PRIORITY
Tags like these seem to pull most people back in the mire just by its imposed importance. Although I use Evernote as a GTD solution, I use OmniFocus as my essential task manager.
Wishlist
There are many, many things that I wish Evernote could do that would help improve they way that I work. At the top, though, are smart lists. This is a tool that I use almost religiously within Apple Mail in the form of Smart Inboxes, and would only enhance the use of tags and improve my overall productivity.
OmniFocus
Before I jump in to how I use OmniFocus as part of my GTD solution, here’s what the developers have to say about the app:
With its clean and uncluttered interface, OmniFocus 2 for Mac brings all the power you’ve come to expect and puts your projects and actions front and center. OmniFocus Standard provides the core functionality most folks need to get things done in a straightforward manner. So, I’ve tried just about every task manager out there … literally. It was just recently that I made the switch to OmniFocus and couldn’t be happier. It’s a smooth process that communicates with my other GTD solutions in a clean and effective way. It’s one of the things that I love about Apple products – it just works.
Let’s go over just a few of the ways that I use OmniFocus on a daily basis.
Inbox
Much like Evernote above, I use OmniFocus’ inbox as my gateway to being productive. I capture all open loops here and process them twice a day – once in the morning and again in the afternoon.
Projects
For the most part I have only three projects, Work, Personal and Tickler. Yes, I know that there are cases for using more projects in a GTD solution, but this allows me to streamline my tasks and keeps me from over thinking where my task should be filed. The Tickler file is for tasks that have no set deadline and I can work on those when I have a break in my other tasks.
Contexts
Contexts are much like tags, and I use them here in the same format that I use tags in Evernote. By utilizing the same format and structure that I use in Evernote, it allows me to seamlessly switch between the applications, and use the same search functions.
Conclusion
While this is a very brief overview of a couple of apps and how I apply them to my GTD solution, I hope that it serves as a starting point for your own GTD solution.
I know that my process isn’t for everyone, but I think that’s what’s great about GTD and David Allen’s process. It makes you stop, think and apply the techniques to your own personal working style. And this is what works for me.