GettingThings Done. The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

The standard plastic, wood, leather, or wire tray is the most common tool for collecting paper-based materials and anything else-physical that needs some sort of processing: mail, magazines,-memos, notes, phone slips, receipts — even flashlights with dead-batteries.

Writing Paper and Pads

Loose-leaf notebooks, spiral binders, and steno and legal pads all-work fine for collecting random ideas, input, things to do, and soon. Whatever kind fits your taste and needs is fine.

Electronic Note-Taking

Computers can be used to type in notes for processing later. And-as character-recognition technology advances, a parade of digital-tools designed to capture data continues to be introduced. Handheld devices (personal digital assistants, or PDAs) and electronic-legal pads can both be used to collect all kinds of input.

Auditory Capture-Available auditory devices include answering machines, voice-mail, and dictating equipment, such as digital or microcassette-recorders. All of these can be useful for preserving an interim-record of things you need to remember or deal with.-

E-mail

If you're wired to the rest of the world through e-mail, your-software contains some sort of holding area for incoming mes -sages and files, where they can be stored until they are viewed,-read, and processed. Pagers and telephones can capture this kind of input as well.

Higher-Tech Devices

Now you can dictate into computers as well as hand-write into-them. As more and more communication is morphed into digital-and wireless formats, it will become easier to capture ideas (with a corresponding increase in the amount of data reaching us that we need to manage!).

"Computer!"

"Yes,David?"

"I need bread."

"Yes, David."

My needed grocery item has been collected. And as the organizing part of the action-management process is further digitized, "bread" will automatically be added to my electronic grocery list, and maybe even ordered and delivered.

Whether high-tech or low-tech, all of the tools described above serve as similar in-baskets. capturing potentially useful information, commitments, and agreements for action. You're probably already using some version of most of them.

The Collection Success Factors

Unfortunately, merely having an in-basket doesn't make it functional. Most people do have collection devices of some sort, but usually they're more or less out of control. Let's examine the three requirements to make the collection phase work:

1. Every open loop must be in your collection system and out of your head.

2. You must have as few collection buckets as you can get by with.

3. You must empty them regularly.

Get It All Out of Your Head

If you're still trying to keep track of too many things in your RAM, you likely won't be motivated to use and empty your in-baskets with integrity. Most people are relatively careless about these tools because they know they don't represent discrete, whole systems anyway: there's an incomplete set of things in their in-basket and an incomplete set in their mind, and they're not getting any payoff from either one, so their thinking goes. It's like trying to play pin ball on a machine that has big holes in the table, so the balls keep falling out: there's little motivation to keep playing the game.

These collection tools should become part of your life-style. Keep them close by so no matter where you are you can collect a potentially valuable thought-think of them as being as indispensable as your toothbrush or your driver's license or your glasses.

Minimize the Number of Collection Buckets

You should have as many in-baskets as you need and as few as you can get by with. You need this function to be available to you in every context, since things you'll want to capture may show up almost anywhere. If you have too many collection zones, however, you won't be able to process them easily or consistently.

An excess of collection buckets is seldom a problem on the high-tech end; the real improvement opportunity for most people is on the low-tech side, primarily in the areas of note-taking and physical in-basket collection. Written notes need to be corralled and processed instead of left lying embedded in stacks, notebooks, and drawers. Paper materials need to be funneled into physical in-baskets instead of being scattered over myriad piles in all the available comers of your world.

Implementing standard tools for capturing ideas and input will become more and more critical as your life and work become more sophisticated. As you proceed in your career, for instance, you'll proba bly notice that your best ideas about work will not come to you at work. The ability to leverage that thinking with good collection devices th at hand is key to increased productivity.

Men of lofty genius

• when they are doing the least

• work are the most active.

- Leonar

Empty the Buckets Regularly