Sanity Check

This is my fourth post in a series on exploring the intersection of Getting Things Done and Lotus Notes. The topic for this posting is how I currently (try to) implement GTD today without any fancy schmancy templates. Just vanilla, out-of-the box Lotus Notes + BlackBerry.
As I alluded to earlier, the beauty of David Allen's system (or probably better to say "the productivity principles Allen discovered") is that its non-proprietary as far as tools go. You can do GTD with a paper notepad, Franklin Planner, any PDA, Sidekick 95 (though I think that program had a Y2K bug), a spreadsheet (why not, people use it for word processing), DOS text editor, Lotus Notes, and yes, even Outlook (if that can be classified as a system you trust). The main functionality required in your Organizer system is basically the ability to manage lists plus some sort of calendar that let's you defer follow ups.

After "listening" to the GTD audio book a few times I was somewhat energized and enthusiastic about implementing GTD with what I use and am committed to as a Lotus Notes DevAdmin. I wouldn't say GTD is a religion, but it does produce wild-eyed zealots and in my case I was all set to customize my mail template. Fortunately, I knew from experience that customizing the mail template, then trying to maintain those customizations through version upgrades was a royal pain, so I turned to DavidCo.com to see what advice they had for implementing GTD with Lotus Notes specifically. I found help in an eBook: GTD and Lotus Notes a 35 page step-by-step manual for optimizing Notes as a personal productivity tool. Cost $10. The introduction reads:

"The following recommendations come from thousands of hours of one-on-one coaching with professionals at all levels, many of whom work in a Lotus Notes environment."

This eBook also functions as a great mini review of GTD productivity principles like

1. Don’t leave anything in your head or in unprocessed stacks
2. Decide the next physical action
3. Review and update the contents of the whole system regularly

The eBook GTD and Lotus Notes teaches some interesting new ways to leverage the much neglected ToDo function in the Mail Template.

"The To Do function can be simplified to be a powerful list manager, and as such can be effective in organizing reminders in a way that works in real time. It can also be used to store useful reference materials and checklists, thereby adding sophistication to your personal management system."

One recommendation I found really helpful is to repurpose the Category field in the ToDo app as the title for the list. They provide suggestions for list titles like @Car, @Home, @Computer, @Phone, etc. which serve as context lists (the Context is where you can execute the Next Action). Other lists you can use the Category field for are WaitingFor, SomedayMaybe, Projects (which I don't use...more later on this), etc. This is a much more powerful and usable methodology than the traditional homogeneous prioritized ToDo list.

A couple caveats before you consider downloading this eBook: First, it assumes you are already quite versed in GTD. I don't recommend you use it as a shortcut to learn GTD. You really need to get the full book, paper or audio versions, first. I've read more than once about people trying to implement GTD, even using Eric Mack's eProductivity Template, who say they didn't fully get it because they hadn't read the book yet. Second, its a little dated, written in 2006 using Notes 6.5 screenshots. So if you're used to version 8 or 8.5, some of the menus and Action buttons have changed. Strangely absent from the eBook is mention of the Follow Up Flags feature that was added in 6.5, which is great for tagging an email with a Next Action and optionally scheduling it with a reminder.

While the eBook is quite inspiring and informative in many ways, I didn't find it to be optimal or practical for everything. A few of the suggestions seemed a little forced and not intuitive. One example is the recommendation to use folders for tracking WaitingFors (aka Delegated actions) and Actionable messages. Nope. Follow Up Flags are better and that's one fewer place to look for things.

Based on this eBook and some ideas gathered through reading other tips n' tricks, I've cobbled together a reasonable method for implementing GTD in plain vanilla Notes without customization. So here's a brief review of how I (try to) implement GTD in vanilla Lotus Notes + BlackBerry:

Reference emails - Non-actionable emails that are worth keeping for future (non-specific) reference I remove from the InBox using Folder>Remove from Folder (a single click option would be nicer). I've gotten out of the habit of using folders for 90% of my reference emails simply because Lotus Notes has Google (I mean "Search" function). I especially like how in 8+ the default search syntax is now the same as web search engines (where you don't have to type AND between words and it doesn't assume you've typed in an exact phrase to search on. (Tip: Turn off "fuzzy" search because its just crazy stupid). I may use folders when I know I want to keep a package of emails together related to the same topic (I have a Lotusphere folder), but its not that often.
Via BlackBerry, there is no equivalent remove from folder option (just filing into existing folders), so I generally don't bother filing messages I've read on the BlackBerry and do an InBox cleanup next time I'm back in Notes. Thus, I never really get my InBox to  empty on my PDA, so there's a little inconsistency I've been forced into there.

Other Reference Storage - I make use of the Lotus Notes Journal (renamed Notebook in 8.5+) for organizing and storing reference information that I expect will be useful in the future. In my pre-Lotus Notes days, this electronic file would have been an intricate, complicated set of folders and Word/Excel files on my hard drive. Once I switched to Notes I pretty much abandoned the hard drive style of storage for text and small files. I still use my HD for large files and large collections of PDF reference docs though. My Notes NSF Notebook consists of programming & administration tips, sample code, notes from courses and conferences I've attended, and random thoughts about various topics that I've felt compelled to capture.
This journal.nsf syncs with my mail file (which affects my quota unfortunately) and thus also handily syncs with my BlackBerry.
 
Converting Emails into Actions - GTD promotes that you turn all actionable emails into Next Actions that you can perform at an appropriate time (the exception is any action that you can complete now in 2 minutes which you just do immediately). Lotus Notes has a handy function for copying the contents of an email into a new Task or new Calendar entry through the Action button "Copy into >New Task/Calendar Entry" (in versions 4-7). In version 8 the same features is buried under the More action button requiring one more click than before :-(
Time specific Actionables go on the calendar as a reminder or appointment depending on the requirements. Actionables that are not time-specific can be turned into ToDo's. Once you've converted the email into an Action, you can either delete the original email or remove it from the Inbox (Folder=>Remove from folder).
In the BlackBerry, unfortunately there is no equivalent for the "Copy into New" function, so to create Next Actions from an email, I just manually create a new Calendar or ToDo item and copy and paste any important information from the original email if necessary. Another pain in the BlackBerry butt is that it has no equivalent for Calendar Reminders entries (0 time entries), but if you adjust the begin and end time to the same value (0 hours, 0 minutes long), it serves the same purpose and doesn't muck up your Domino freetime schedule that will cause meeting conflicts with others.
How does  the BlackBerry handle Next Actions in the Task Application? Pretty good actually. I use the Category Filter to choose the Context I am in to view any Actionables I can take care of while in that context. For example, I choose @Car as the category filter and I see that I am due to buy and replace my furnace air filter. Even the size is listed in the notes because I can never remember that spec.

Alternative way to make an Email Actionable -  Beginning with Notes 6.5 I started to make good use of the FollowUp Flag feature. Caution, there's a GTD way to use this feature and a non-compliant way. Just clicking on the flag button to place a flag icon on the email isn't GTD compliant and really is nothing more than the common (bad) practice of marking an email as unread after you've read it., just so it stands out in your massive InBox. The proper way (GTD-compliant) method to use FollowUp Flags is to use the Edit Flag feature and always insert the Next Action into the Follow up field. If its time specific, put in a date and time to pop up a reminder. Then remove the email from your InBox (Folder=>Remove from folder). Remember, FollowUp items can be viewed in the FollowUp view which can be sorted in a variety of ways.

Tip: Customize the columns in the follow up view so that the Follow Up Action field is easily visible and wide enough to be readable.

There are some downsides to using FollowUp flags that you should keep in mind before using them excessively.
(1) For one they don't have a category field so you can't place them into Contexts like you can with other Actionables.
(2) Flagged email reminders don't translate to reminders on PDA's. Plus you can't view the FollowUp view on a PDA (at least the BlackBerry anyway) nor is there a corresponding equivalent method for flagging an email on a BlackBerry. On the other hand the BlackBerry doesn't have a "Copy into new" function either so you're stuck either way.
(3) If you overuse the feature, you can experience excessive alarm-itis where you have alarms overlapping alarms e.g. scheduling reminders for a Monday morning. While this gets your attention, it can be very distracting.
(4) The Follow Up view is yet another list you need to review along with your other lists. It can be confusing to have your To Do list with Next Actions plus a FollowUp view also with Next Actions.
Still, all taken into consideration, I find FollowUp flags irresistibly convenient and timesaving particularly for @Work actions where I'll be primarily be dealing with them through Lotus Notes rather than using a PDA.

Next Actions for Projects - Projects are any task that requires more than one action. I depart from the GTD methodology of having a Projects list separate from Next Actions List. I am not comfortable having two related, but disconnected things. My brain won't allow it. Thus, my solution for this is to list the Project Name in the ToDo title then a colon then the next action (i.e. Project : Next Action) . For example  Family Room floor :  Measure room. I'll then categorized the ToDo by context (in this case @Home). In the body field of this entry I may list future Next Actions so that I can promote the next one into the title when I have completed the current Next Action. The body field will also contain notes about the project, attachments, other other project support.

Miscellaneous Lists - In my ToDo's, in a similar vein to the SomedayMaybe list, I maintain other lists with titles like "Movies to See", "Books to Read", "PlacesToGo" and any other list that seems useful. Its beautiful to have a sense of control over all the random thoughts that come into my head or through conversations and blogs I read.

Weekly Review - Hypothetically speaking, if I do a weekly review following the practices I've laid out above, I would need to review all the Next Actions, Projects with their inline Next Actions, as well as the miscellaneous lists under all the ToDo categories, plus review the FollowUp view in Lotus Notes. Typically, I don't include my calendar in a weekly review because I pore that nightly (or so) looking for items that I may have missed on the previous day that need to rescheduled (renegotiated with myself). Occasionally, every couple weeks I might run out of first level priority projects at work and I then review my Follow Ups for lower priority items that I've put off. Over all, this review process has to be the weak point in my system.

Well there you have it in all its glory, warts and all. That is how I (try to) implement GTD using Lotus Notes.

Next I'll give Eric Mack's eProductivity replacement Lotus Notes mail template (the one David Allen uses personally) a go and see if that works better than what I've cobbled together. I feel confident and riskfree with going this route because in a webcast over a year ago (Taking Notes?) I heard Eric promise that the template does not alter the existing Notes fields (or uses them in a compatible way with the mail template) so if you don't like the system you can just revert to your regular mail template and all the data will be intact.

Here's my Project entry - Evaluate eProductivity Tmplt :  Download and register trial

Update: I've added a paragraph on how I manage my Next Actions via BlackBerry