GettingThings Done. The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

Attached Notes Most organizing software allows you to attach a digital "note" to a list or calendar entry. If you're keeping a "Projects" list within the software, you can go to the project you had a thought about, open or attach a "note" to it, and type in your idea. This is an excellent way to capture "back-of-the-envelope" project thinking. If your "Projects" list is paper-based, you can attach a Post-it note next to the item on your master list or, if you're a low-tech type, on the item's separate sheet. In any case, you'll need to remember to look at the attachment when you review your project, to make use of the data.

E-mail and Databases E-mails that might contain good information related to your projects can be held in a dedicated e-mail folder (just follow the instructions on pages 152-53 for "@ACTION" and call it something like "@PROJECTS"). You may also find it worthwhile, if you don't have one already, to set up a more rigorous kind of digital database for organizing your thinking on a project or topic. If your company uses Lotus Notes, for example, you can create a project database either for your own private use on your PC or to be shared with others in your network.[10] It's worth looking into some of the other types of free-form databases that are on the market, too—even just for your own use. It's great to be able to cut and paste from the Web or from e-mails and drop data under a topic somewhere or type in your own thoughts. Be sure, also, to explore the technology and tools that you already have—just learning how to use all the lists and attachments in something like the Palm organizer may provide you with sufficient "back-of-the-envelope" capability.

Paper-Based Files Having a separate file folder devoted to each project makes a lot of sense when you're accumulating paper-based materials; it may be low-tech, but it's an elegant solution nonetheless. Simplicity and ease of handling make for a good general-reference filing system—one that lets you feel comfort-able about creating a folder for scraps of paper from a meeting.

Pages in Notebooks A great advantage of paper-based loose-leaf notebooks is that you can dedicate a whole page or group of pages to an individual project. For years I maintained a midsize notebook with a "Projects" list in front and a "Project Support" section toward the back, where I always had some blank pages to capture any random thinking or plans and details about projects on my list.

Each of the methods described above can be effective in organizing project thinking. The key is that you must consistently look for any action steps inherent in your project notes, and review the notes themselves as often as you think is necessary, given the nature of the project.

You'll also want to clear out many of your notes once they become inactive or unreal, to keep the whole system from catching the "stale" virus. I've found a lot of value in capturing these types of thoughts, more for the way it consistently helps my thinking process than because I end up using every idea (most I don't!). But I try to make sure not to let my old thoughts stay around too long, pretending they're useful when they're not.

Organizing Nonactionable Data

Interestingly, one of the biggest problems with most people's personal management systems is that they blend a few actionable things with a large amount of data and material that has value but no action attached. Having good, consistent structures with which to manage the nonactionable items in our work and lives is as important as managing our action and project reminders. When the nonactionable items aren't properly managed, they clog up the whole process.

Unactionable items fall into two large categories: reference materials and reminders of things that need no action now but might at a later date.

Reference Materials

Much of what comes across your desk and into your life in general is reference material. There's no action required, but it's information that you want to keep, for a variety of reasons. Your major decisions will be how much to keep, how much room to dedicate to it, what form it should be stored in, and where. Much of that will be a personal or organizational judgment call based upon legal or logistical concerns or personal preferences. The only time you should have attention on your reference material is when you need to change your system in some way because you have too much or too little information, given your needs or preferences.