I've been doing a couple things for a while that have been working very well for me, that I haven't heard or read before, and wanted to share them. I use the area at the top of my tasks list just under the calendar items (it says "Type a new task" in it) as an inbox -- if I'm on a call or just sitting in front of my computer, I can just type a word or two ("Fred", "Cable guy", whatever) in there, and since it goes in uncategorized (there's the key) it pops to the top, separate from my next actions. I don't have to "process" the item to death, it can sit there raw for a few hours if need be.
Anyway, I use that top space as one of my inboxes, and several times a day I scan it, and think "What do I need to do about Fred?" -- I double click the task, change it to whatever is appropriate ("Fred @404.555.1212 re: snakes") and change the category to @calls. I love how simple that is. It also makes it easy to consolidate and throw away notes from little pieces of paper ("Gas receipt $32.74") that I collect throughout the day, rather than toss a bunch of messy little pieces of paper into my physical inbox, knowing I'm just going to throw them away. I may decide to do a quick "process" round, too, if I have a minute or so.
Also, I use "@categories" for everything except Projects themselves; my contexts are @agenda, @calls, @computer, @emails (that I need to compose), @errands, @home, @office, @review, and @wait.
(I just started using @agenda after GTDing for two years, when finally I realized I can't always control the context that I communicate with people in; @agenda for boss used to be @office, @agenda for wife used to be either @home or @calls, etc. Sigh.)
Anyway, from what I've heard/read, using tasks and a category in Outlook for @wait is a departure from the "standard" setup of having @Action and @Waitfor folders, which I don't have. What I do is this ... when I go look at emails, I "process" them and they get turned into a calendar item or a task and get filed instantly. (Of course, when you drag an email to the Calendar icon on the bottom of the folders pane, it creates an appointment, and when you drag one to the Tasks icon, it creates a task, but you knew that, right?) ... for example, say I get an email asking for some information I need to get from someone else. I might forward the original request to the person I need the info from, clarifying the request, and hit send. Then I drag the original email down to create a Task, change the subject slightly to reflect who I asked ("Air speed velocity of swallow" becomes "Eric Idle re: air speed velocity of swallow") and set the category to @wait, and file (or in this case, delete) the original. It takes seconds. Since I have the text of the request in the body of the task, it's easy to locate where I put the original if I did need to file it, and generally I don't need to refer to it again anyway.
Anyway, I use that top space as one of my inboxes, and several times a day I scan it, and think "What do I need to do about Fred?" -- I double click the task, change it to whatever is appropriate ("Fred @404.555.1212 re: snakes") and change the category to @calls. I love how simple that is. It also makes it easy to consolidate and throw away notes from little pieces of paper ("Gas receipt $32.74") that I collect throughout the day, rather than toss a bunch of messy little pieces of paper into my physical inbox, knowing I'm just going to throw them away. I may decide to do a quick "process" round, too, if I have a minute or so.
Also, I use "@categories" for everything except Projects themselves; my contexts are @agenda, @calls, @computer, @emails (that I need to compose), @errands, @home, @office, @review, and @wait.
(I just started using @agenda after GTDing for two years, when finally I realized I can't always control the context that I communicate with people in; @agenda for boss used to be @office, @agenda for wife used to be either @home or @calls, etc. Sigh.)
Anyway, from what I've heard/read, using tasks and a category in Outlook for @wait is a departure from the "standard" setup of having @Action and @Waitfor folders, which I don't have. What I do is this ... when I go look at emails, I "process" them and they get turned into a calendar item or a task and get filed instantly. (Of course, when you drag an email to the Calendar icon on the bottom of the folders pane, it creates an appointment, and when you drag one to the Tasks icon, it creates a task, but you knew that, right?) ... for example, say I get an email asking for some information I need to get from someone else. I might forward the original request to the person I need the info from, clarifying the request, and hit send. Then I drag the original email down to create a Task, change the subject slightly to reflect who I asked ("Air speed velocity of swallow" becomes "Eric Idle re: air speed velocity of swallow") and set the category to @wait, and file (or in this case, delete) the original. It takes seconds. Since I have the text of the request in the body of the task, it's easy to locate where I put the original if I did need to file it, and generally I don't need to refer to it again anyway.
