Applied Research in a World of Increasing Time Demands
So far in this series, I have addressed the idea that Outlook could be improved by re-building it around the fundamental practices of time management. The fundamental, Emptying, is the most important one for many users, and it also could be improved in Outlook if it were redesigned. In this particular fundamental, a user goes …
In my prior post I brought up the notion that Outlook was designed to solve user’s problems with email, rather than the bigger problem they have with time demands. I also mentioned that the company that understands this shift would be able to produce radically different software. Not just different, but better. It would help …
I often complain that there is too-little research into time management techniques, and that academics have failed to give humankind a workable set of principles, definitions and rules of thumb to work with in this area.The result is software that simply misses the mark.A recent article in BusinessWeek entitled High-Tech Time Management Tools seems to promise something …
Ever since I learned that I could take an email and immediately transform it to an item in my schedule with its own start and end time, I have engaged in the habit almost daily. In Outlook 2007 it’s a simple matter of dragging the item to the day in the calendar. Outlook automatically opens …
From time to time, a user of a time management system may find themselves “falling off the wagon,” neglecting to perform one or more of the critical habits that underlie the 2Time approach. For example, they might forgo manual capturing, and instead try to remember everything without writing anything down. Or, they might allow their …
I am working on a project that involves multiple promises being made in every direction, and I am struck by an area of my own system for productivity that is underdeveloped. While it’s not a time management issue, per se, it does appear to be a problem that results in wasted time. What do you …
A critical strategy in achieving the goal of a Zero-Inbox is to gain control over the flow of email into one’s Inbox. This is accomplished by turning off the auto download feature, and scheduling times in the day to review email. That makes sense. But when should a user decide to download his/her email? Should …
I just read an article that describes the “problem” of capturing everything, in which I think, by the end, the solution turns out to be worse than the original issue. The article can be found at Merlin Mann’s site — 43 folders — under the title: The Problem of Ubiquitous Capture. The author, Matt Wood, …
Continue reading “The Problem of Capturing (without Tossing)”
I started using a strange word, awakeness, in an attempt to describe a quality that I have witnessed in the most productive people I have met. I recently dug up the post from the blog where 2Time actually started – “Chronicles from a Caribbean Cubicle.” Here is the article in full. Awakeness – the Key …
I came across the following quote which is taken from an article in the New York Times from June 26th entitled “E-Mail Etiquette for Public Figures.” I once read a popular book called “Getting Things Done” (you can read about its philosophy on Wikipedia), (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_things_done) in which author David Allen maintains that you should empty …