My main GTD lists (projects, next actions, waiting for, to read) are kept on an Excel spreadsheet which I can sort using filters. Why Excel you may ask? Well, because my main area of "overwhelm" is work based with limited options to explore alternative IT based solutions. However, I'm able to access Microsoft OneDrive and so can work on stuff from multiple devices and locations using Excel. But I've struggled integrating the management of emails into my whole GTD system because things change so quickly in the world of email. As soon as another email is received, it has an impact on one or more of my existing projects which is logged on my Excel spreadsheet. I know this can't be unique to me, but I think I've finally figured out my issue with all of this.
Say you're dealing with a project because its been allocated to you as a result of a meeting. To progress it, you make some calls, have some lower level meetings, do some research, and answer some emails. All of these actions are linked to that project. But...and here's the rub, as Shakespeare would say: 2 min rule actions aren't supposed to be tracked. So, I'm batting off those 2 min emails thinking that they fit the 2 min rule so don't need tracked, as it takes longer to track and organise them than to just to deal with them. But these little 2 minuters aren't stand alone actions, they're part of a bigger picture. Before I know it, I've lost track of where I left things when I look back at this in a week's time, because I've dealt with half a dozen 2 min emails on multiple projects.
So, I've come to the conclusion that it's important I do track them, even though I deal with them immediately, because I want to know where I left that particular project when I look at it again at the weekly review. Tracking these 2 min rule actions becomes essential when you're dealing with 50-70 projects, if you want to know where you last left things. You can't and shouldn't keep those sort of things in your head...that's breaching the fundamental rule of GTD of using your mind for having ideas, not for storing stuff. However, tracking them also cuts across the 2 min rule principle of simply "doing" but not tracking these suckers. My approach? I've concluded that it its not practical to track them on my main GTD system due to the time and effort involved (primarily because they change so frequently - up to as much as 8 times a day in my email environment). I have decided to track project-related 2 minuters locally, in their own email environment, but not in my main GTD system. I can do this in seconds by dragging and dropping into the appropriate email folders whereas it would take much longer to update my main lists on my spreadsheet. Yes, there is a danger that my system isn't current, but the weekly review is an opportunity to ensure that both ecosystems (email and spreadsheet) are brought back into alignment.
The danger with just firing off 2 minute rule emails without tracking them is that my lists are no longer current, which threatens the whole viability of my GTD intentions. Solution? Deal with the emails as a subset of the main system as described above - I think Kelly Forrester called this Option 1. Hope you're up for some irony: I initially poked holes in this proposal and tried to resist it when it was first suggested to me. But, in the end, I've gone from having a single email archive folder to setting up folders within my email client for new actions, ref, waiting for, to read, action support archive. And I'm finding things a lot easier to manage as a result. From experience, I just know that it takes too much effort for me to constantly keep amending lists when you're dealing with ping pong emails on a project. Far better to manage it within its own ecosystem.
Its bizarre because only a few months ago, I was so sure that having a single GTD environment was the way to go. I've had to do a complete U-turn on this as it just wasn't working for me. TBH I still struggle with the thought of 2 major environments, but it simply wasn't working before. Since creating the folders in my email client, everything has become much more manageable. I can't say I'm overly comfortable with having an email system running in parallel (albeit connected on a weekly basis) with my main GTD system, but I am determined that I have to keep tweaking my system until it really works for me. And I think I'm getting there. Slowly, but surely. Sorry for ranting on about this, but its one of those things that's kept me awake at nights. Yes, that means its ripe for a mindsweep capture. And if I'm honest, no - I didn't even capture this on my lists. But at least I now think I've given it the appropriate engagement it deserves. At last.
