Whitepaper v3: Taking advantage of Exchange
I have been a Mac user for years — when I ran my own web studio, it was a 100% Mac shop; my primary computer at home is a Powerbook (showing its age, but still going strong), my partner’s is an iBook; if you could buy an iPhone in Australia, I probably would.
All of which makes it a bit hard to believe that my current GTD setup is based around Microsoft’s Exchange groupware suite, coupled with a BlackBerry 8700.
Yes, that’s right — as much as I love my venerable A5 Filofax, it’s not currently part of my system. The pace of my new job has meant that I have come to rely on the always-on nature of the Blackberry, and that, unfortunately, a paper-based system just wasn’t fast enough for me.
I’ve recently moved into a new job, running a team responsible for mass-media campaigns. Moving jobs and, literally, moving offices has given me a good chance to overhaul my contexts, my projects, and, for the first time, to establish a tickler file.
The system as it stands
Collection: physical inbox on my desk; Blackberry mobile device to input directly to my next action lists; Moleskine notebook for times when I decide to unplug from the Matrix and leave my Blackberry at home.
Contexts: a simplified list of contexts, as follows:
- Calls
- Emails
- Errands
- Home
- [partner’s-name]
- [manager’s-name]
- Team
- Waiting For
- Work
Filing: I am re-establishing my A-Z general reference file, a desktop file for project material, and, for the first time, establishing a tickler file. This is a big step, in a way, because if it’s to be at all useful I am going to need to build it into my morning routine, and not just leave things for the Weekly Review.
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