Since I wrote the introductory blog post, things have gotten even more challenging. In addition to my previous activity, I inherited one hundred or more forums orphaned when my employer, Scout Media, ended its partnership with another organization called Fanhome. Secondly, one of the major sites in our network, Ohio State, left without warning in the middle of the night. As an Ohio State alum as well as a member of the network development team, I have become involved in that situation as well.
So, the challenge is greater, if anything.
The first thing I want to document is software. I have chosen a number of different software components to manage my information challenge, and I will be trying to tie them together to implement a GTD approach which works for me.
1. Microsoft Office 2007
The standard-bearer. I will primarily focus on Outlook, although Excel generally winds up playing a role in my daily work as well. After years of cranking out workplans and spreadsheets, I tend to use Excel whenever I need to break a problem down into its component parts. While Excel promotes strictly hierarchical thinking as you break down a problem, it's something I'm so comfortable with, I'm not tempted to switch to an expensive tool like Mind Manager. I've used Visio for brainstorming as well in the past, but it tends to burn more time for this than it's worth.
The biggest problem with Outlook and GTD, in my estimation, is that the multi-step projects you find in GTD simply don't map to Outlook's flat task lists. This is one area where I plan on using Omea to supplement Outlook. Which brings us to...
2. Jetbrains Omea Pro
A stunningly sophisticated application which has been allowed to sit dormant for far too long as the developer focused on more profitable niches. A number of dedicated users have been agitating to get the developer to pick it up again, or make the application open-source so we can take it further.
Omea Pro allows you to manage a variety of different types of information: email, files, contacts, RSS feeds, Usenet feeds, web pages, etc, within a common framework. Between these different information types, Omea allows for two different types of segmentation: classificatons and workspaces. Between the two you can look at information more like objects, where Omea provides common attributes across them. All information types can be categorized, and then placed into workspaces.
The end result powerfully allows for contexts to be established for different types of work. If you are about to work on your personal finances, for example, you can switch to the "Finances" workspace, see only to-dos which apply to that, and then work with information objects classified to creditors, for example. So, if you have a citibank card, you can click on the Citibank category and instantly see the web page for Citibank, any emails received by them, and files which apply to them.
3. Nuance Paperport
I refused to deal with stacks of paper. Everything I receive is scanned and placed into a file. From there, the file can be described, categorized or what have you. The files are physically organized by date, and then other tools are used to determine what the file contains and whether it is actionable. The objective is to kill the paper which clutters my desk and piles up around the office.
4. Google Desktop Search
Since tagging isn't really supported by Outlook, I will simply be using Google's desktop search engine to find emails. I receive hundreds of emails a day, so storing them in some sort of hierarchical foldering mechanism would make life impossible. I will be using Google Desktop search to find emails and more.
5. Clear Context
An add-in for Outlook which I may or may not be using as part of the eventual system. I will be evaluating this throughout the process.
6. Microsoft OneNote
For unstructured text and "sticky notes" which show up during the course of the day. One Note will be used to store bits and pieces of information which come in or which need to be referenced, like software registration numbers or IM conversations.
The key is making all this software operate together in a framework which makes it possible to deal with the torrent of customer requests I receive.