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GTD: A Tech CEO’s Journey

For the uninitiated, GTD stands for Getting Things Done, which is a methodology captured in a book by the same title, authored by David Allen. Here, I will write about my current solution, while not perfect, allows me a greater degree of freedom than ever before.

A Little Background

As a Tech CEO of three companies, two of which are currently active (I spend most of my time on ThemBid.com currently), I find myself performing the following functions: development/hacking, management, human resources, marketing, advertising, networking, strategy, operations, graphics design and any other task that is needed at the moment. In addition I own a home where I have a great wife and a two and half year old daughter. Obviously some kind of methodology to organize all this stuff and create a foundation for effective execution is in order.

I began my quest for optimal productivity circa 1995. I was one year out of high school at that point and I had just started out full time at a local Junior College while working full time on the graveyard shift. At that time I was taking care of my home, mother, grandmother and sister as well. I began to feel overwhelmed. I did not lack the ability to work hard, just the ability to work smarter.

Fortunately I came across a book called Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins. It is through this book I became addicted to self-improvement. Subsequently I have read over twenty such books and countless articles, audiobooks and even a few seminars. While I began to gain a good grasp at the big picture I still struggled with the day to day. That is until GTD came along.

Current Methods

I dove into the GTD head first, just after finishing the Get the Edge program offered by Anthony Robbins. From the Get the Edge program I learned a awesome technique called the RPM. RPM is an acronym for the Rapid Planning Method which basically follow the concept of first determining the result, then the purpose and then you create a massive action plan (todo list).

Following is a break down of how I’m using the GTD currently. Before I do that, I would like to mention that I have not completely dumped my life into the system. I’m still trying to get my paperwork organized in my filing cabinets.

• Calendar
  • I use this a sacred ground. It is only for hard appointment such as meetings (which I try to minimize) and items that must be done that day or else!
  • The calendar system I am currently using is Google Apps Calendar. I sync with my Pocket PC via a program called OggSync.
  • OggSync requires MS Outlook, which I have installed on my HP Media Center at home and in a VMware instance at my home workstation and on my travel laptop.
• Tasks
  • This is of course, the hart of the GTD. I  use MS Outlook to manage my lists on my computers. I group by category to make it easy to  view the tasks by context.  I usually start off with all the lists collapsed and only open the relevant contexts. I mark tasks that need to be done soon with a high priority. I don’t use the due date feature, as if it must be done by a certain day it goes on the calendar.
  • I have a 1and1.com exchange account to sync my contacts.
  • On the Pocket PC I use a program called Pocket Informant which allows me a very similar view as I have on the desktop with MS Outlook.
  • Here are the contexts I currently use: @@Daily - Personal, @@Daily - Business, @@Nightly - Personal, @@Nightly - Business, @@Focus, @Agendas, @Anywhere, @Call,  @Computer, @Errands, @Home, @Projects,  @Read/Review, @Office, @Someday/Maybe  and @Waitingfor
• Projects
  • For projects I list them all in the @Projects context. Then I create an additional category (without the @ sign) as a container for tasks related to the project. That way, with the categories in collapse view, I can quickly make sure that all projects have a defined next action (The project name itself must be in its own category for the category to show up in collapsed mode).
  • In the project name that is stored in the @Projects list I keep a RP (with the M being the next actions).
• Inbox
  • I have four input points for my inbox: 1) A Molskine notebook 2) GMail 3) Cell Phone and 4) My Paper Inbox. I keep all of these at empty.
• Routine
  • I start the day with my @@Daily lists which contains essential tasks that must be completed each morning.
  • Then I go to the Calendar and make the necessary preperations.
  • Then its  GTD context mode for me, where I execute according to intuition plus the Pareto Principle.
  • I end the day with my @@Nightly lists.

In an attempt to improve on this system, I have started a Life 2.0 Project. I am very interested to hear you feedback.