Category: GTD

FLA Webinar – The Efficient Librarian: Workflow Management

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Please join me as I present a flalogofree webinar this Tuesday afternoon, sponsored by the Florida Library Association.  (Please note that registration may be limited due to demand.  So sign up early.)

The Efficient Librarian: Workflow Management

The world of work seems to be moving faster and faster every day. Is it possible to keep up with the rapid pace and still be stress free? Yes, it is! To do so you must learn the path of the Efficient Librarian. An Efficient Librarian is an elite knowledge worker, navigating the complexity of the post Internet information world. In this workshop, Doug Crane will teach powerful methods for managing commitments and processing information which reduce stress and increase efficiency.  The workshop is based on the article, “Efficient Librarianship: A New Path for the Profession” published in the Nov/Dec 2017 issue of Public Libraries.

Speaker: Doug Crane
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM, Eastern
FREE webinar open to all Florida Library Staff
Click Here For Registration

Deciding Between Priorities

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There is a common question I encounter in my Efficient Librarian presentations that can be best synthesized as this: How do I decided between different priorities?

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The default resolution that many people fall to is an attempt to decide which item is most important.  While this can be helpful, adjudicating importance can be too subjective and imprecise.  A better guide to resolving this question was recently presented on the Getting Things Done blog.  In the post, senior coach Kelly Forrister framed a few different factors to consider.

1/ Context is first since it will always be required to do what you want to do. For example, if your computer is required to write an email, but you don’t have it with you, then you can’t take that action. If being @Home is required to mow your lawn, but you’re not home, you can’t take that action.

2/ Time available is also a limitation in that if you don’t have the time to take an action, it won’t matter if it’s high priority or not. If you only have ten minutes, but you need an hour to take an action, that will eliminate some choices.

Read the rest of the factors listed in the post on the Getting Things Done blog.

Waiting For “Waiting Fors”

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Here are two inescapable truths about the world for work.  First of all, our work is dependent and intertwined with that of our colleagues.  Whether you work in a large organization or as a freelancer we are constantly sending messages out to others that require a response in order to advance our projects.  The second inescapable truth is that a certain percentage of our colleagues will fail to respond to those messages.  Therefore, it is important to have a system in place to keep track of all the messages that are sent out so that they can be followed up on when needed.

The waitsimplest way to do this is through a “Waiting For” folder.  A “Waiting For” folder is a depository for copies of any message which requires a response.  Most of the time, our colleagues respond quickly.  However, the “Waiting For” folder pays dividends for those times when a response is lagging.  A best practice is to check the “Waiting For” folder at least once a week.  While browsing through the contents make an executive decision on each message: Do you follow up to encourage action or let it lie fallow for another week?

The “Waiting For” folder is essential to ensure that important delegated tasks do not fall through the cracks.  Make one for paper workflow and one in your email and then see it deliver peace of mind.

Spark Talk on Email @ PLA

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Last Thursday in front of an energized crowd of over 300 conference attendees, I was honored to present my five minute Spark Talk called Five Minutes to Inbox Zero – Overcoming the E-mail Avalanche.  Here is how it started:

“Let’s go! I only have five minutes to tell you the five things you can do with an email. First of all in a show of hands, how many of you have completely emptied all your email inboxes at some point in the last 24 hours? I mean completely empty – everything – no read or unreads, absolutely zero messages inside. For those of you who have, go ahead and take a five minute nap. For the rest of you, pay close attention if you want to be an Efficient Librarian.”

Read the full text of the Spark Talk in the Articles section of this site.

Where to Keep Ideas?

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DA-SmallDavid Allen is fond of saying that “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”  As a knowledge worker, your ability to generate and implement ideas is crucial to your success.  The challenge is that we can never know for certain what will turn out to be a good idea and what will end up as a discarded thought.  However, it is guaranteed that a forgotten idea will never be implemented.  Therefore, it is important to have a method to capture ideas as they appear.

In a recent blog post, David Allen addresses this topic.

“How many thoughts and ideas do you have daily which represent useful things to do or potentially enhance or improve projects, situations, and life in general? How many have you had and forgotten, and forgotten that you’ve forgotten? …

“Most people have (or could have) many more of these kinds of thoughts than they realize, during the course of any 24-hour period. Most people don’t get value from many of them, because they lack both the habit and the tools to collect those thoughts when they occur. If they aren’t captured, they are useless, and even worse can add to the gnawing sense of anxiety most people feel about things “out there” they know they’ve told themselves they should or would like to do, but don’t remember consciously what they are.”

Read the rest of this post at www.gettingthingsdone.com.

Overcoming the Email Blues

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cleandeskIn January 2018, I had a short article published in the American Library Association LearnRT Newsletter.  The article was called, Overcoming the Email Blues. While subscribers to the Newsletter received the article, it has yet to be archived on the ALA web site.  Therefore as a public service , I have added the article to my blog for your reading pleasure.

Many thanks to the editors of the newsletter for publishing the article.  The ALA Learning Roundtable has the following mission:

“The Mission of the Learning Round Table….

….promotes quality continuing education and staff development for all library personnel. We help you NETWORK with other staff development and continuing education providers for the exchange of ideas, concerns and solutions.

….serves as your SOURCE for staff development continuing education assistance, publications, materials, training and activities.

….is your ADVOCATE for quality library staff development and continuing education at both the local and national levels.”

 

Overcoming Procrastination

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Do you want to know how to overcome procrastination?  I’ll tell you in the next blog post.

Just kidding!  When I present the Efficient Librarian workshop, I’m often asked the question, “How do I overcome procrastination?”  While it seems challenging the solution is easier than you may think.  In a recent blog post on the Getting Things Done web site, GTD expert Meg Edwards wrote about her own experience with procrastination and the simple way she overcomes it:

megedwardsI realized that the two things I did that caused me to procrastinate were:
1) I had a negative definition of the outcome
2) I focused on the complexity involved … which overwhelmed me so I did nothing.

What I did that got it moving was:
1) I changed the negative definition of the outcome to a positive definition that motivated me
2) I clarified and defined the next action which simplified what I needed to do so I could relax about the complexity around it.

Read the full blog post on the Getting Things Done web site.

The Big Secret about Goal Setting

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DA-SmallWhat is the value in setting a goal for yourself or your organization?  Many cynics discount goals as artificial creations that don’t translate into actual results.  They argue that we are going to do the work anyway, so why set up a fake expectation?

In a recent blog post David Allen discussed what he believes to be the most useful perspective on goals and why they matter.

“There is always the dilemma of trying to set targets low enough to be realistic, but high enough to be galvanizing, exciting, and challenging.

This is a topic for endless business books and motivation pundits. I just want to highlight one perspective I’ve found very useful over the years: The value of goals is not in the future they describe, but the change in perception of reality they foster, in the present.

What we focus on changes what we notice. Our brain filters information, seeing one thing in a situation instead of something else, based on what we identify with, what we have our attention on.”

Read the full post at the Getting Things Done blog.

Interview with Tiago Forte

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forteThis past year I have been studying the work of Tiago Forte, a San Francisco based productivity consultant.  Tiago has been building on the work of David Allen to find ways to enhance the ability of knowledge workers to manage projects and build productive workflows.

In an interview on the podcast, This is Product Management, Tiago presents key concepts such as the development of “meta-skills”, finding focus in any environment, and forming new habits.  From the podcast web site:

“Tiago’s approach builds on Allen’s system, applying the latest tools, and accounting for the challenges modern knowledge workers face. Tiago’s approach helps busy people use their brain for thinking instead of storage, break projects into actionable next steps, implement the right tools, and build habits to get work done.”

The interview runs for 35 minutes, but the web page with the podcast provides a handy highlights section if you want to jump to a specific topic.  It is well worth a listen.