Some of my favorite posts I read on other blogs are annotated lists of the applications the writers use on a regular basis to improve their efficiency. There are LOTS of applications that claim to drive efficiency. The challenge is that even the best app requires an upfront cost to learn how to utilize it effectively and turn it into a system or process. Knowing whether to make that upfront investment and how to use the tool correctly are important if you want to be successful in actually improving efficiency. I am sure that Evernote could improve my efficiency, but I haven’t developed a system for using it effectively. Others have, but I haven’t read anything that made it easy for me to steal their systems. So right now Evernote goes unused on my desktop.

This is the first in a series of two posts about the applications I have incorporated into my systems. Some are very nice to haves. Others have become so essential to how I operate I would spend thousands of dollars to re-develop them myself if they were to disappear. As I incorporate more applications into my daily life I will come back and update this page.

Without further ado, Part 1 – Getting Things Done Applications

Getting Things Done

I am a strong believer in David Allen’s classic efficiency book GTD. If you aren’t familiar I highly recommend buying it and reading it immediately. The goal is to break getting things done into pieces: When a new task arrives (say an email), start with triaging it and putting it into a bucket – i.e., create categorized storage places for ‘stuff’ – and simultaneously prioritizing it and assigning it a next step. Then when you have time to do something, you go to your already prioritized buckets and move through the next steps. It’s a relatively simple concept that is hard to fully implement, but even partial implementation will dramatically improve your efficiency.

I discovered GTD in 2009 when I left McKinsey. In the last five years I have ‘recommitted’ to GTD at least three times. Each time I made a step change in efficiency that slowly decreased as I let the system slip. But the slippage never dropped below the stair I was on before. And each recommitment jumped me up to a new level. My last dive into making the system work (about 6 months ago) has stuck incredibly well. I attribute that to the failures that came before combined with new tools that have made sticking to the system easier. Five in particular.

GTD for Gmail: ActiveInbox

This add-on for Gmail is phenomenal. You can trial it for free for two weeks (Or a month if you use my referral code – Note I get two free weeks as well if you use the code. Two free weeks is worth about $1.50, so I think my ethics are safe in this case). After your trial ActiveInbox is $40/year (about $3/month).

The add-on completely changes the way you use Gmail. When you read an email you immediately categorize it, just like GTD tells you to do. You either assign it as an “Action”, “Waiting”, or “Reference”. Then you archive it. Since archived emails aren’t deleted in Gmail, you can still go back and get access to it if you need to, but you get it out of your inbox. Since installing this app I have been at Inbox Zero continuously. Just hop on, triage new email that day and be back to inbox zero.

When you assign an email to Action or Waiting, you also have the ability to assign a due date and a ‘next steps’ task (just like GTD tells you to). Then when you are ready to spend time being productive you can move on to your new Action folder ActiveInbox has built for you. And here is another kicker: New emails moved to your Action Folder get put on top, but you can move the emails up and down – just drag and drop. This lets you prioritize them in whatever order you like.

When an email hits its due date (or earlier if you set it up that way), it pops back into your inbox like a big interruption. But generally you spend time getting things done in your Action folder.

The Waiting folder is another brilliant move. We’ve all had times when we sent an email to someone and are waiting to hear back. You can’t do anything until you hear back (you have no actions to take), but you don’t want to forget about them. Generally that means people leave the email sitting in their inbox taking up mind share and real estate. This new solution means you kick it over to your waiting folder (and even put a due date on it). If the due date hits it jumps back into your inbox to remind you. Otherwise you should visit your waiting on folder once a week or so and see if you have anything to follow-up on.

I can’t say enough good things about ActiveInbox. The two bad things are that it doesn’t work on mobile and it doesn’t work with Outlook. But fear not. There are other solutions for those platforms.

GTD for iPhone: Mailbox

Once you have installed ActiveInbox you will be depressed when you open your Gmail app. Mailbox solves this problem. Mailbox is brilliant on its own. Mailbox is to Gmail what Tinder is to Match.com. It was designed for Mobile first and uses easy swiping motions to help you categorize your email. With a little bit of upfront work (this video shows you how) you can ensure the Mailbox categories match up with your ActiveInbox categories and they work together seamlessly.

Mailbox is free and can be downloaded from the App store.

GTD for Outlook: Pay it Forward Email Management

Unfortunately both Mailbox and ActiveInbox do not support Outlook. Many of us (myself included) are on Outlook for our work email. I have not found an add-on for Outlook that will turn it into a strong GTD partner. Fortunately I found the PIFEM system. It uses existing Outlook functionality that I had always ignores (priority colors, check marks, etc.). The documents walks you through setting it up step-by-step. It doesn’t use exactly the same method as ActiveInbox, but the effect is the same. First thing in the morning I triage my email, giving each a priority and a due date (most of the time I set the due date for “Today”). Then I spend my date working through the to-do list folder starting with the highest priority.

I won’t repeat everything the document says (it takes about 2 hours to set it up right). Beyond the document I made two enhancements:

1. I create shortcut buttons on my main toolbar for the common activities (setting priorities when in the triage inbox)
2. I created a priority category of “Waiting” that sits at the bottom of my follow-up inboxes

After making the changes, this solution works great. The only thing I see slipping is my ‘follow-up today’ inbox can sometimes get overwhelmed and turn into something that looks similar to my old inbox in days of yore. But two things stay better:

1. At least the inbox is now prioritized from most urgent/important to least important, so if I don’t get down the list I don’t need to stress too much
2. At the end of the day I can go down the list and for every item I can either take action, or make the conscious choice to assign it to the next day (or next week) with the push of a button. With a little effort my ‘get done today list’ should be empty at the end of the day

The biggest gap I now have in my system is Outlook on Mobile. I haven’t found a mobile Outlook application that has the functionality needed to pull off the PIFEM system. If you have ideas I would love to hear about them in the comments.

GTD for larger projects and lists: Trello

Trello is a very light-weight task management system. Basically you create shared boards . Each board has lists. Each list has ‘cards’. A card is like a task, but you can double-click into the card and add as much detail as you like (including attachements). It is very easy to move cards from one list to another. And the mobile version of Trello is just as good as the desktop (and accessible from offline when you need it).

All of this sounds very easy and straightforward (and it is), but the combine effect is the best task management system I have ever worked with. Here are threespecific examples of how I use Trello boards:

1. Recruiting: We create lists for each stage in the recruiting funnel (Potential candidate we found on LinkedIn, Resumes in, Candidates we’ve met, Candidates we want to come in for an interview, Scheduled interviews, Want to make an offer, offers out, accepted offers, and two final list for candidates we reject/reject us). Each card is a candidate. As a candidate moves through the funnel we move their card from list to list. We have a really clear visual look at how our funnel is progressing
2. Managing Team Queues: There is a list for different priority tasks and categories. Each person on the team also gets a list. When there is a new idea for something to be done, a new card is created and put in the ‘to by prioritized’ list. Once a week cards in the to be prioritized list can be moved into specific priority lists. As tasks are assigned to individuals they are moved off the priority lists on onto the individuals’ lists. The tasks on the individual lists are ranked from top to bottom priority. Very easy to see what anyone is working on, and since the whole thing is shared, when someone completes a task they can move it to the “completed list” which can also be reviewed weekly
3. Domestic: My wife and I share boards for things we need to get done. One example of grocery boards. Each item is a card. We slide them around from ‘need’ to ‘don’t need’. And we have specific lists for different stores – things we want to buy at Costco vs Whole Foods for example. I can even leave for the store and Jess can update the Trello board while I’m driving there. I pull up the list while I’m in the store and slide things to ‘complete’ as I put them in my cart. We have other boards too for projects like when we were planning our wedding and stuff we need to do before the baby arrives

Some last GTD Comments:

You have likely been told not to use your email as a to-do list. And yet you likely use your email as a to-do list. Everyone does. Instead of fighting against that urge, there GTD tools help jujitsu your email platform into a to-do list that actually works.

It works so well in fact that I often find myself emailing myself. My ability to blast through to-dos on email now is as good (or often better) than when I have separate written list I am working through. When something keep failing, it’s worth trying a new tactic. These GTD tactics have worked wonders for me. Hopefully you find them helpful.

Next week I will go over non-GTD tools I use to increase my efficiency. Stay tuned.