GTD-Getting Things Done

I really liked the GTD process. I am following a similar process at work but not at home. At work, I organized my process using Outlook Calendar such as upcoming meetings, tasks or future projects. My work outlook calendar is synced to my iPhone so I can get pop up notifications on my phone when I am not by my computer. At work I deal with a lot of sensitive deadlines. I have to keep track of 330 faculty and staff immigration visa expiration dates. The Outlook Calendar works great for that purpose. Since our office purchased a system where I can generate immigration visa expiring reports I schedule report “generation” meeting every two weeks. At work I also have a tray for things that must be done “now” and a “pending” tray where something is missing and I am waiting for departments or scholars to get back to me. I try to answer all my phone calls and emails within hours. I use Outlook for long term projects. As I am preparing for a big presentation in spring, I scheduled meeting with my coworkers for November and December to discuss and plan the presentation.
It was very helpful to go through the process and apply it to my home environment. Life can get a little hectic with a two year old, full time job and a class. I graduated in 2007 so taking classes again can be a little overwhelming. I put all my “to do things” in an “inbox.” According to David Allen, you have to learn to prioritize to get things done. After prioritization, I made a list of what had to be done today, tomorrow and what can be done next week (the list contained specific dates).
I really liked Kelly’s advise on context and time availability. For example, I had a project to be done last Wednesday, however, a lot of my coworkers were at the conference that day, and I was the only one in the office advising students and answering phone calls, therefore, I had to postpone my project until next week even though it was scheduled for Wednesday.
I am planning to to continue the GTD process. I really like scheduling an “overview” session every week. For my “at home” tasks it will be Saturday afternoon when my son goes takes a nap. For my “at work” tasks it will be Monday morning right after I come in to work.