GTD with Lotus Notes

In my previous posts I mentioned that I was working on GTD in Lotus Notes. This is my GTD implementation though I could say that there is probably more work involved here to “sharpen the saw” so to speak.

In the terminology of GTD, our Lotus Notes application is our IN and what we are going to talk about here is the “processing” aspect of the workflow. So let’s get started.


There are about five types of emails that you will receive everyday:
1. 1-2 minute actionable emails.
2. Do-this-before-deadline email.
3. Date-specific email such as meetings
4. References
5. Non-actionable and not a reference email.


The goal of this post is to discuss how to handle these mails such that we will be working on an empty IN (Lotus Notes Inbox).

To start the implementation, you need to create at least 4 folders:
1. @Action
2. @Read and Review
3. @Reference
4. @Waiting For

The idea is to categorize your mail according to “type”. I separated Read and Review from Action because my job involves reviewing documents and I feel that I should put prime importance to these types of mails.

Here are the types of mail and what to do with them:


1-2 minute actionable emails.
These are emails that can be acted upon and can be done in 1-2 minutes such as respond “YES” or “NO” to a survey, a note from Steve asking if you have reserved the projector, and the like. These types of email should be dealt with as soon as possible. Once the required action is done this mail should be deleted from your IN. If you still need to wait for a response from the recipient of your mail then go to Sent items and drag it to your @Waiting For folder. If you need to set a deadline create a To do list item from your Lotus Notes or create a calendar item with the an understandable Subject. E.g. “Follow up Mr. Y of Company X for your mail about blah in your @Waiting For.” Don’t forget to check Notify check box so that you will be reminded of your task.

Do-this-before-deadline email.
These are emails that need to be done before a certain deadline. These emails should be moved to @Action. Create a To Do list item or create a calendar entry to remind you of the deadline.


Another email of this type is a read and review type of email. In this case I drag it to my @Read and Review and create a calendar entry if needed.

Date-specific email such as meetings
Accept the invitation and delete the email. Once you’ve deleted the mail a dialog box will pop-up giving you an option to delete or to remove. Choose to remove the mail since if you choose delete the invite will not reflect in your calendar. Again it pays to edit the mail and check Notify.

If the mail comes in a form of an email such as a needed meeting or brain storming on a particular date, then you should add this to the action list and create a calendar entry.

References
These are mails containing special documents such as specifications, your password notifications, quotes that you feel you will most likely re-read in the future, and the like. These types of documents should be placed in your @Reference folder. Do not abuse this folder by adding just any mail to this make sure that you will really read the documents that will come here. The rule is – the more you delete the better.


Non-actionable and not a reference email.
Spam, chain-mails, and other mails that are not actionable and that you do not consider a reference should be deleted.

Everyday you need to take time on filtering your email and work on an empty IN. Free your mind from mail-clutter and increase your productivity!


Taking a sip,


Joe L.