Getting Things Done (GTD)

I am conscious that changing jobs will create the need for me to become familiar with new management processes and tools.

Hopefully my new workplace will have lots of these, and they will work well ... but there is a good chance I will have to supplement these myself.

At my last workplace I customised my Lotus Notes mail database to make my job easier, and rarely had more than 5-20 emails in there at once. However, I don't expect to be using Notes in the future.

With this in mind, I was interested when I came across references today to the Getting Things Done self-management methodology by David Allen.

Especially interesting is the GTD Outlook add-in that helps automate the methodology within MS Outlook. I can see this being of a lot of value, and the recorded demo certainly shows how easily it could work for me - if I was using Outlook (at the moment I use Gmail, and was using Lotus Notes).

It is all Michael Hyatt's fault that I am considering GTD at all. I discovered his Working Smart blog for the first time today, and found a very interesting post on Eight Things You Can Do in a Meeting with a TabletPC (and the GTD add-in to MS Outlook).

[Edit: Here are the 8 things:
1. Take notes.
2. Enter tasks.
3. Ask questions via e-mail.
4. Make assignments via e-mail.
5. Look up information in computer files.
6. Look up information on the web.
7. Respond to urgent messages.
8. Keep my staff moving forward.]

Now, a TabletPC is one gadget I have wanted ever since I first heard of them, but it's nice to get the testimony of someone who is using one themselves, and isn't in IT. I have experimented with PDAs using PocketPC myself and always found them wanting (perhaps my hands are just too big?) so a TabletPC is the next logical step up.