How to be productive (GTD in practice)
Most of you probably know the Getting Things Done concept so I won't describe the basic principles but just give my experience with the system and how I'm doing it now - and having great results with it.
Getting ideas out of your head
This is probably the most important step as it will free your "brain RAM" and let you work on the next steps in peace.
The main thing here is to get any idea you get as soon as possible onto a paper or computer. I suggest you get a block of small paper and put it everywhere - in your car, kitchen, desk, toilet - anywhere you spend a lot of time and can get an idea. When you have an idea and anything associated with write it on the paper, fold it and put it into your pocket. This itself will help a lot with freeing your mind for the task at hand.
Once a week document the ideas into your computer. Write everything that comes to mind about the idea in that specific entry. Until you're defining a doable project, you can keep it here. You can use any text editor (file example: ideas.txt) but I highly recommend you get a GTD application as soon as possible. There's a ton of them on the internet but I'm using Things (MacOS) and it's great. Others can use a very similar webapp - Nirvana. You can try others and choose the one which best suits your needs.
If you're not writing and documenting ideas, start today! You'll see an enormous change in the few days.
*others: Work, Personal, etc.
Getting things actually done - project management
This is actually done very hard without an application and because most of them are really cheap or even free for basic use, I again suggest you find one that suits you. I'll also give some recommendations.
Once you've defined your project (you do this right?), you can start assigning tasks. If you're a one-man-band you can continue using Things/Nirvana app but if you're in a team I would suggest using a collaboration project management app. If you have programmers in your team, I highly recommend using Unfuddle (basic plan is free) - we use it and it's one of the best project management apps (it also has repositories - svn/git). There's a similar free, downloadable open source app - Collabtive. If you don't have any programmers you can try 37signal's Basecamp. These apps are also great for managing your outsourced team. The advanced plans have time tracking, attachments, milestones, etc.
In the beginning our company didn't have any app and I honestly don't know how we got anything done.
Other tips
Have two email clients - personal and business. I use Thunderbird for business use and Mail for personal emails. This way I don't get destracted to answer personal emails when working.
Spending too much time on Facebook, Twitter, forums, etc.? Get a Firefox addon - Leechblock. You can set a timeframe in which it will block the websites you don't want to visit but can't help yourself. :p
If you have any questions, post them here and I'll answer them to the best of my abilites.
Getting ideas out of your head
This is probably the most important step as it will free your "brain RAM" and let you work on the next steps in peace.
The main thing here is to get any idea you get as soon as possible onto a paper or computer. I suggest you get a block of small paper and put it everywhere - in your car, kitchen, desk, toilet - anywhere you spend a lot of time and can get an idea. When you have an idea and anything associated with write it on the paper, fold it and put it into your pocket. This itself will help a lot with freeing your mind for the task at hand.
Once a week document the ideas into your computer. Write everything that comes to mind about the idea in that specific entry. Until you're defining a doable project, you can keep it here. You can use any text editor (file example: ideas.txt) but I highly recommend you get a GTD application as soon as possible. There's a ton of them on the internet but I'm using Things (MacOS) and it's great. Others can use a very similar webapp - Nirvana. You can try others and choose the one which best suits your needs.
| How I do this in Things: ideas that I get when I'm near the computer, I use the Inbox folder. Then, when I'm filing them, I created an Area of responsibility* called Ideas and put them all there. Until I can work on any of them, I keep them there. When I'm out of projects, I look into this area. |
*others: Work, Personal, etc.
Getting things actually done - project management
This is actually done very hard without an application and because most of them are really cheap or even free for basic use, I again suggest you find one that suits you. I'll also give some recommendations.
Once you've defined your project (you do this right?), you can start assigning tasks. If you're a one-man-band you can continue using Things/Nirvana app but if you're in a team I would suggest using a collaboration project management app. If you have programmers in your team, I highly recommend using Unfuddle (basic plan is free) - we use it and it's one of the best project management apps (it also has repositories - svn/git). There's a similar free, downloadable open source app - Collabtive. If you don't have any programmers you can try 37signal's Basecamp. These apps are also great for managing your outsourced team. The advanced plans have time tracking, attachments, milestones, etc.
In the beginning our company didn't have any app and I honestly don't know how we got anything done.
| How I and we do this: for company use we have tasks which are assigned to each member on each project. Sometimes I copy the tasks to my Things to do list for better overview. |
Other tips
Have two email clients - personal and business. I use Thunderbird for business use and Mail for personal emails. This way I don't get destracted to answer personal emails when working.
Spending too much time on Facebook, Twitter, forums, etc.? Get a Firefox addon - Leechblock. You can set a timeframe in which it will block the websites you don't want to visit but can't help yourself. :p
If you have any questions, post them here and I'll answer them to the best of my abilites.
Be unique.
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