GTD – Self Organization

Yesterday I participated as a judge in a speech contest, previously sending an email to my club members to convince them to attend the contest; an event hosted by 2 area governors that had a small handful of participants where none attended form my club despite my reminder. But it was an interesting session with speeches on cats, dogs, brassieres and a hilarious one on how Toastmaster will help save the planet and extend lives; the last speech delivered by a brilliant standup comic who lost (as he did not come in a formal coat and tie like the others). Earlier in the week we had our club meeting where my members where asking about the area contest as some of us received an email asking for help. This made me realize, in the days leading up to the contest, that I had a responsibility to organize a contest for my area, wondering how this major event slipped my mind, realizing that the pressure and stress at the office wiped out the task from my mind.  The truth is that I was running away from any kind of work, neglecting to read emails especially one from a governor to start organizing our area contest, focusing instead, but rightfully so, at my office work, thereby, allowing my responsibility as governor to slip away. Now I have 2 weeks left to organize a contest. 

I could not sleep the night before the Saturday contest, thinking that I will be derided by the other officers, but I resolved to accept the shame and come clean and ask for help. But nothing of the sort of humiliation occurred despite the fevered thoughts in my brain, instead the kindness and concern of the people came through, giving me confidence that I can make it. I started to plan my next steps, thinking about my other work in the office where I had slipped and did not communicate very well, not organizing meeting or not updating my customers, instead letting the deadlines slip. In fact I had not prepared well for a department meeting last Tuesday, though submitting the presentation in time but attending remotely, not making the case to explain my position clearly to the audience in the meeting. All these seeming failures crept in my mind that together with the area contest that I let slip resulted in sleepless nights that further caused me to self-indulge and procrastinate.  Saturday afternoon was spent going to a concert in the woods at Paris Mountain Park where I tried to gain strength listening to music, surrounded by nature and trying to silence my mind.

Last week I watched several videos by David Allen and download GTD materials to help me become more efficient and productive. I also continued to read the book ‘Is Work Killing You?’  By David Posen, MD which gave a lot of good insight on the nature and cause of stress (i.e. Volume, Velocity and Abuse of work).  These materials plus the music concert in the woods calmed me a bit  and several plans came into shape. I have determined to do the following:

-    In my Lotus Notes, create the following folders for emails that I will defer work (i.e. cannot be done in 2 minutes): Answer, Read and Pending. I will check these folders during the day and, hopefully, prevent me from missing important emails.

-    For project work, the following tools will be used: office work = Atlassian  tool to update and manage maintenance tickets (using SCRUM or KANBAN Method) and MS Notes to organize reference materials. For other projects = Trello for SCRUM or KANBAN tools and Ever Note and Pinterest for reference notes on my personal projects.

-    Organize my file folders especially Dropbox so I can work anywhere with my mobile devices.


Reading these books have helped me organize my thoughts, keeping me calm instead of rushing into panic, raising my thinking at a higher level so I can plan better. Let’s see what will happen in a few days.


https://trello.com/


http://evernote.com/


https://www.dropbox.com/


https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira

The Cloud

In today’s world, the best way to be productive is to be wired to the ‘cloud’. It’s a way to be more efficient by being up to date on one’s engagements and\or activities. The problem is that one usually has more than one device. For instance, the office computer, home computer, tablet or iPad, Sony Dash and HDTV linked to an old laptop and, finally, the Smart phone.  Ideally one just needs a laptop and a smart phone but that does not work for most people. One cannot work on personal stuff in the office but now and again one does sneak in a task or two. After all that’s the work – life balance promoted everywhere. But the most difficult thing is to have a synchronized calendar and task lists that contains both office and home tasks. In real life, it’s not as easy as it could be.

The solution is the cloud where one keeps all his productivity tools and information in a central location for one’s devices to access. Perhaps the best solution is Google Calendar and tools like Spring Pad and Ever Note which are available as apps in the Android market (for tablet and Smart Phone) and has its own web site (for computer work). The problem is that one’s office tools don’t synchronize with these cloud based tools; preferring its own silo of information. Lotus Notes rarely have direct links to Google based products; preferring an intermediary such as Microsoft Outlook. Other tools do exist in the market that bridges the gap but one needs to pay for it. The best option is the free option so one just needs to re-enter the information from one application to another if one doesn’t pay the price. Hence, one needs to manually move tasks or appointments from Lotus Notes Calendar into Google Calendar.

For tasks or to do list, the best option is Spring Pad or Ever Note - a close second. One could access these applications in one’s home computer, Android tablet and office computer (via the Internet). Not an elegant solution but workable. The Google platform provides the best place to have cloud based tools such as Google Docs and Calendar. But one would need a wireless connection if one does not have a monthly data plan like most folks. The monthly plan is like an open faucet that drains one’s cash little by little. The most cost effective solution are WiFi only tablets. Spring Pad and Ever Note can work remotely and can synchronize later when one is within a WiFi zone. But these tools are not available in the Sony Dash – another interesting platform that uses a UNIX variant. But Sony Dash can link to the Internet and access Google Calendar.

As one ages, the Smart phone loses its attractiveness because of the small screen. One’s eyesight is not as good as in one’s youth. The alternative is the iPad or the other Android variants with their 7 to 10 inch screens. For the long term, Google seems to have the most promising platform although Microsoft seems to be gearing up for a battle in the cloud. The recent purchase of Skype plus the partnership with Nokia are the rumblings of a strategy poised to strive at Apple and Google. In the long run, Apple does not seem to have a long term future if focused on hardware; something that’s not cost competitive unless the aim is the high end market. Google and Amazon seem better positioned towards a cloud based future. It remains to be seen if Microsoft can make a successful transition to the cloud.

Other interesting applications are coming up that will make the cloud work. Dropbox is a free service where can store and synchronize one’s files in the cloud to one’s many devices. A similar service exists in Google and Microsoft’s Windows Live but does not have the ease that is specialized for this task. Even browsers like Firefox have a way to synchronize one’s bookmarks in all devices. Now one is gearing up one’s home computer to be able to support one’s office work – installing connectivity to the office Intranet. It’s the link between the so-called private and public cloud. Perhaps the challenge is adjusting to this new lifestyle of multiple smart devices and cloud computing. How does an aspiring writer take advantage of the cloud? Aside from the writing tools such as Google Docs, one can take advantage of the emerging self-publishing trend with the help of sites like Amazon.

Complicating all these is the Internet TV exemplified by Google TV and Boxee. Aside from the entertainment and educational value, one can also use cloud services – aided by wireless keyboard and mouse.  For example, checking one’s calendar or tasks in ones HDTV. Consequently, one can make VOIP phone calls in ones tablet, computer or HDTV. It’s a wired world with the cloud as the central platform for services, interaction and content. Of course, the cloud is just a high concept description of the Internet. We are all just returning to the old days of dumb terminal to mainframe connectivity or perhaps the more recent (1980’s) client – server model which was replaced by Microsoft and Apple’s drive into the home computer front. The early days of the Internet and dotcoms facilitated connectivity but Face book, Google and Amazon brought everything back into the cloud of centralized existence.

Google is fighting another battle with Chrome. The Chrome web browser seems to be the emergent front end for net book computers. Chrome is morphing into an operating system and one wonders if an Android replacement at hand. The Chrome marketplace (computer + HDTV) is the counterpart to the successful Android marketplace (phone + tablet) which is the counterpart to the successful Apple or iTunes marketplace (iPhone + iPad). Even Amazon is offering the Android marketplace in its site. The only missing player is Microsoft perhaps hoping for some help from Nokia. The Chrome environment will only make sense if there are apps that exist in Android to insure workability in all devices (computer + tablet + phone + HDTV). Otherwise, Chrome will prove attractive only in the HDTV and computer platforms and not in the Smart phone and tablet space. It remains to be seen how all these strategies will play out in the coming years.