I just got a job in retail (corporate office), and the sustained pace was something I had never experienced before. The interesting thing to me is the way the speed has developed a culture of 1) only the hot stuff really matters, and 2) people who can keep it all in their head are revered. The stress levels are postal-reminiscent.

GTD is the only system capable of handling it, but it required an adaption for me. I have been collecting and processing in a single step now. I keep my lists on my desk on paper spread out in full view (Today, Next Actions, Waiting For, Agendas, Projects). That way, for most things I can enter the next action immediately on the right list. If I wait to process it later, it doesn't work here (except for someday/maybe and some project kickoff items). Things change so quickly, and have to be acted on, that I can't just plunk them into my inbasket. I also need to do a review at least every two days. Otherwise, my lists are totally out of date.

We have an admittedly disfunctional environment, but it has been a killer test of the principles. I didn't think I could actually make it work, but eventually I just adapted things so that it became easier to do the right thing (get it on a list) than the wrong thing (put it on an ever-spreading collection of Post-It notes). This meant keeping all my lists accessible with no flipping, clicking, or searching. I turn my head, and there they are. I move my hand, and I can add an item. If it gets more complicated than that, I start the Post-it thing again. Scary, but true.

The best part is knowing that I have a methodology that works. That is light years ahead of trying to figure this madness out for myself. I can adapt the system myself, but having the core GTD principles already figured out and available is priceless. I know no matter how crazy it gets, I always know the way back.

One thing I read in that article was that americans get buzzed by unsolicited emails, average of 46 per day... that's just crazy talk.

Ok, fair enough if your job is on a help desk handling incoming problems in the form of email... but for the rest of us, engineers, computer programmers, retailers, managers... I just don't get it.

If you're getting unsolicited emails then:
A) you need to talk to your company to get them to install the bare minimum spam-detector software
B) you simply aren't using the 'junk' button and auto filter on your thunderbird or gmail.
C) you are dirt-stupid enough to give your precious work email out on the internet as your contact email, and not your bollocks evilme@hotmail.com address.
D) You haven't told your mates "Look, I love you, but I don't want you to email me movies of fat men doing the hoola hoop in the supermarket to my work address."
E) You are dirt-stupid enough to keep your email client ON while you are trying to GTD... you let IT interrupt YOU.

sorry. it's friday and I'm not getting any emails at work at all today so I feel left out and grumpy. email's not that hard people, USE it.

It also depends on what they mean by "unsolicited." I don't give my company address to anyone outside the company, so I almost never get actual spam. I do however get company press releases, announcements about the latest sale, various company newsletters, reminders about various events and deadlines that don't apply to me, helpful pointers about how to solve problems that I'm not having, etc.

I found it helpful to configure my email to only notify me when I get email from the few people I need to interact with on my current project. I can read all the other stuff at the end of the day with no adverse consequences.

Our policy at work is that anything sent company wide or is not directly work related must contain **INFO** in the subject. That way, Outlook will do whatever you want with it. I have a INFO folder that I read when completely bored, others just auto-delete them.