Posts Tagged ‘workflow’

5 MORE Ways to Make Your Computer Work For You (And Not The Other Way Around)

In my last post, I focused on ways to automate tasks on your computer, from backing up to document writing. Automation is something that computers are especially good at — it is, after all, what they do.

An important part of mastering your computer, though, lies not in the software you use but the attitude you bring to the computer, the worldview that shapes how you interact with it… » Continue

March 26 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: automation, centralization, computer, internet, Productivity, tip, web-app, workflow | 8 comments»

5 Ways to Make Your Computer Work For You (And Not The Other Way Around)

Computers have the potential to vastly increase our personal productivity. They are also, of course, capable of becoming vast time-sinks, sucking our productive moments away in a haze of frustration and imposed patience. Alas, the line between one and the other can be exceedingly thin. Here, then, are five ways to keep on the “productive” side of that line and avoid the “time-sink” factor. I’ve focused here on practices… » Continue

March 24 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: automation, computer, file_management, internet, Productivity, tip, web-app, workflow | 13 comments»

My Redundant Productivity System

Backing up your data is an essential part of digital life and protects you from losing important information. But when something goes wrong with one of your systems, it can mean you have to sift through thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of files for each project you’re involved with.

Over the last few months, I set up a redundant productivity system. While I ensure that my data is backed up… » Continue

March 3 2008 | By Joel | Tagged: backup, redundancy, storage, workflow | 6 comments»

The Importance of a Central Project List

I can’t escape the fact that having a real centralized project list for the things I’m doing is helping. I want to believe that I have tons of excess capacity in my brain. I want to think that I remember everything I’ve got on the go. But I don’t. And maybe you don’t, either.

I’ve recently started using the Mac program iGTD as a central repository. It does a… » Continue

July 30 2007 | By Chris | Tagged: gtd, igtd, Productivity, software, workflow | 19 comments»

Keep Work Flow By Stopping Mid-Task

When you are timeboxing tasks you are taking specific blocks of time and spending them doing one task at a time. This works really well for writing and staying focused.

You allot, for instance, an hour to write; and then after that hour take a break and, maybe, make lunch or do your washing. When you return to writing you are refreshed and organized. If you write freelance for… » Continue

June 28 2007 | By Craig | Tagged: workflow | 2 comments»

Being messy means more productivity

An interesting article was published on Extreme Tech this week that argues that “messier” people are more productivity than extremely organized people. The article argues that “organized chaos” allows you to be more efficient and productive. Taking the time to stay organized everyday takes time and money, but letting your work stay where it ends up lets you get into a better workflow and switch between… » Continue

March 22 2007 | By Kyle | Tagged: messy, organization, productive, workflow | 16 comments»

Where do you keep your todo list?

Todo list is an ingredient to be ultra productive. With so many daunting tasks in our daily life, having a todo list is a must. After you’ve decided to keep a todo list, the question will be: “where should I keep it?”

Where do you keep your todo list right now? Will you change the way you keep your todo list? Do you have any wishlist of a new todo software… » Continue

March 22 2007 | By Leon | Tagged: Productivity, software, todo, workflow | 19 comments»

The Daily 5 Minutes; 9 Questions

After reading my article here last week, and clicking through some of the related links to find this one, a Lifehack.org reader sent me an email with this request;
“I notice you mention the Daily 5 Minutes pretty frequently, and seems you’ve written a lot about it. Can you point me to one how-to kind of post that I can share with the rest of my managers?”
I didn’t have… » Continue

March 1 2007 | By Rosa | Tagged: Communication, D5M, Daily5Minutes, habits, workflow | 1 comment»

GTD Workflow Desktop Wallpaper

Similar to the Layered Desktop Wallpaper we showed you, this wallpaper provides a clear reminder of the GTD Workflow.

What I’d like to see is something similar to a desktop workflow diagram, where each area has an access point, or a folder. ie. Stuff is a folder, Projects is a folder or links, the recycle bin is Trash, the calendar box has a link to your… » Continue

February 27 2007 | By Craig | Tagged: desktop, gtd, workflow | 6 comments»

GTD Workflow Chart

Getting Things Done, we’re all trying but where do we start? LifeDev have pulled out a handy chart from David Allen’s book, appropriately titled, Getting Things Done.

What this chart does is outline the steps of what to do with the ’stuff’ that comes into your life, simply and most handy of all, visually. Essentially it’s common sense, but sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to put into… » Continue

February 6 2007 | By Craig | Tagged: gtd, workflow | 6 comments»

Email Hack: Using Draft instead of @Reply folder

At my current day job, email takes fair bit of my time. That’s why I find every opportunity to optimize my email workflow. I have been using @Reply, @Wait, and @Read folders for actionable emails and those can save me countless hours on searching those action required emails.

I have been testing my workflow a bit recently - mainly on moving emails that require replying to @Reply folder.

Now once… » Continue

October 9 2006 | By Leon | Tagged: email, hack, workflow | 16 comments»

Speed, Accidents, and Anxiety

You’re driving along the freeway. The traffic is heavy and the weather is bad; there’s water on the road and occasional patches of ice. You’re already late for an appointment and you’re worrying that your boss is going to find out and get mad at you, so you’re driving way too fast for the conditions. Everyone else seems to be in a hurry too. Your hands are gripping the wheel… » Continue

September 4 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: anxiety, business-fundamentalism, discontentment, fear, insanity, leadership, lifebalance, Lifestyle, living, Management, motivation, organization, overwork, slow-leadership, speed, strategy, stress, work-life, work/life-balance, workflow, working, worklife, worrying | 2 comments»

Productivity Hack: Write Mini Process Flows

Creativity is one thing, but capturing it into a form that’s useful (to your needs) is another. I’ve got an idea that I plan to implement for myself: mini process flows. Now, your jobs that you’ll need done are different than mine. I’ll just show you mine as examples, okay?

Process Flow Basics

Here are the basics of getting something done by way of a process flow:

Input - Work Performed… » Continue

July 27 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: gtd, nextaction, process, Productivity, workflow, working | 23 comments»

Winning Customers. . . and Keeping Them Too

It’s widely accepted that customer service is probably the most important way for any business to differentiate itself in what is now a global, commoditized and hyper-competitive business world. When competitors can replicate your products or services, and undercut your pricing, about the only thing they cannot do as quickly is to reproduce the image you have already established in your customers’ minds and the loyalty it wins for you.

It’s also… » Continue

July 24 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: attention, client, Communication, corporate-culture, customer, customer-service, customers, growth, Management, organization, relationship, selling, winning, work, workflow | 2 comments»

“Hamburger Management”

A leader forced to utilize “hamburger management” is like a cordon bleu chef told to work as a short-order cook and produce nothing but hamburgers with french fries every day. Any organization that uses this approach is like a diner who eats nothing else. The first becomes bored, frustrated and disillusioned; the second becomes sick rather quickly.

Hamburger management is any form of leadership or management technique that utilizes only a… » Continue

July 9 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: civilized-work, creativity, decision, leadership, managememt, Management, manager, organization, overwork, performance, prioritization, time, timemanagement, work, work-life, workflow, workstyle | 3 comments»