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June 26, 2006

Palm Launcher

If you are a Palm user, you've likely got a few dozen applications to choose from. I learned a tip from my tech buddy Eric for making it easier to get to the ones you choose most often by creating a home page for your favorite applications. Here's how I did this on a Treo 650. If you're on a different version of the Palm OS, these steps might vary slightly, but the idea is the same.

- Go to your Applications screen (usually the house icon or button)
- Tap Menu, Category
- Tap on an application name that you use frequently, such as Calendar
- Choose Edit Categories
- Tap New
- Enter your first name as the new category name
- Tap OK twice
- Go go through a re-categorize the applications you use most often to your name as the category

- Tap Done when finished

What you end up with is a handy launcher screen for just the applications you use most often. I took it even a step further and eliminated all of the other categories, such as System and Utilities, and now only have the categories "Kelly", "Other" and "Unfiled".

I also re-assigned my hard email button to be my To Do list since I don't use my Treo for email (I know, the shock and horror....but I just don't want to be that available all of the time. I can also do a much better job of processing email on my laptop.) You can change your button assignments through Applications, Prefs, Buttons.

And, one other handy launcher to customize on the Treo is the Favorites Page accessible through your phone button. Each of the buttons on that screen can be assigned to an application or speed dial. Very handy as well.

Posted by Kelly at 09:19 AM | Comments (7)

June 21, 2006

GTD and Notes Beta

I'm looking for a few people to beta test a document on implementing GTD with Lotus Notes. It's a great tool, following in the footsteps of our whitepapers for Outlook and Entourage. If you are interested, and can check it out and give feedback in the next week, please send me an email.

Update 6/23: Kelly here.....I have enough testers at this point. Thanks for the great interest.

Posted by Kelly at 04:20 AM | Comments (1)

June 20, 2006

Summer Nights

I love New York City in the summer. I'm here for two days working with a client on Wall St. Here's a view looking across the river to New Jersey.

I encouraged my group today to take time to implement GTD after the seminar. If you've tried, you know that a really thorough collect, process and organize can take a couple of hours, if not a couple of days, to really get complete. Carving out time, especially if it's quieter during summer holidays and vacations, can be a fantastic opportunity to get some semi-uninterrupted time in the office to get yourself setup.

Posted by Kelly at 06:52 PM | Comments (0)

June 09, 2006

Tips for reducing email

Bill Gates said in an article recently that many of us are getting 10 times as much email as we were back in 1997. The need for ways to effectively manage email is greater than ever. Even if you got it down to zero, wait a few hours and I bet some of you would have several dozen fill the void. GTD (especially the 4D's) will help a ton with the processing . There are also some simple things you can do to reduce the sources of your email volume so you don't get it in the first place.

1. I often see inboxes full of emails from online stores. Every time you place an order, that company is looking to keep you engaged. Automatically adding you to their email newsletters and special offers is an easy way for them to do that. During any order process, carefully look for the checkbox or privacy information allowing you to opt-out of future communications beyond the order. If you are already getting emails from a company you do business with, look for unsubscribe options at the bottom of the latest email.

Note: you probably know not to unsubscribe from suspected spam. It validates your email address and creates even bigger headaches.

2. Let people know you don't need to be copied on unnecessary emails. A friend of mine was sending me all of those "forward to 10 people or your cat will die" emails. I told her to please stop sending me random forwards, in the nicest way I could, and she did. This also extends to your team. If you are still being copied on emails that you don't feel are relevant to your job, current projects or focus, let those folks know. If you've got some vague sense that maybe you should be looking at those, or maybe people expect you to, maybe it's time to review your 20k foot Areas of Responsibilities to get clear on that.

3. Consider dropping reply emails with key team members for the purpose of saying "thanks", "got it", "ok! or whatever other one or two word responses get sent. An email to process is an email to process, whether it's got 1,000 words or two. We tend not to send the quick "thanks" and "got it" type emails as a staff. We just assume the person got it and is thankful. Now, with some companies and cultures, this may not fly. A client was telling me that it's actually in their employee handbook that they will acknowledge all emails received. They are a global company and in their international offices, not acknowledging an email is considered rude. So maybe try this one out with just your key local staff to help each other reduce your loads.

What have you done that works to reduce your incoming email?

Posted by Kelly at 03:11 PM | Comments (4)