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Implementing Getting Things Done, while using a Blackberry January 2, 2006

Posted by Gary Slinger in : Uncategorized , trackback

I’ve had a number of entries in my referrer log regarding “GTD and Blackberry” or “Blackberry and Getting Things Done”. I mentioned in a previous post that I’d be writing about it soon. “Soon” had to be redefined somewhat due to some work and personal issues, but here we go.

Implementing “Getting Things Done”, while using a Blackberry

Assumptions:

I’m going to assume that you’re familiar with GTD – if you’re not, you should first check out the David Allen website, and/or the book itself. From a technology perspective, I should disclose that I use Microsoft Outlook 2003, connected to an Exchange Server 2003. Added to Outlook, I have the Netcentrics GTD Outlook Addin; there’s also a Blackberry Enterprise Server in the mix. Major elements of the process and such that follow will work without having all of these elements, but the results may not be as “smooth” in implementation.

The Blackberry Itself

I personally use a Blackberry 7290:

Blackberry 7290

Provided you’re using a Blackberry with an Operating System of at least 4.0, the Blackberry examples shown here will be consistent, other than the appearance of the keyboard if you’re using a 71xx model, or the aesthetic differences of the case.

The Operating System

A key concept of GTD is “contexts”. These are represented in this methodology through “Categories”, which are replicated between the Blackberry and Outlook. Versions of the Blackberry prior to 4.0 don’t have the Category functionality in the Tasks application, so it won’t work out. Using the Netcentrics addin facilitates pushing next actions into the Tasks section of Outlook, and hence the Blackberry.

To check your Operating System version on your Blackberry, start from the home screen, go into Options, and then into About. You should see something like this:

Checking the Blackberry OS Version

You can see here that I have a Blackberry running version 4.0.2.49. If you have a 3.x, check with your cell provider – they should have an upgrade available for you.

Using The Blackberry For Getting Things Done

David Allen breaks the GTD process into five distinct stages. I’m going to use these as guides, and map how I personally use the Blackberry in each stage. I think that Collection and Processing, the first two sections, are the most involved and important.

Remember that GTD is a process, and concept, that each implementer has to adapt for their own needs. There’s no application to load on to a Blackberry that will magically implement the GTD processes, and there’ll be aspects of the implementation that you don’t like in all likeliness. But if you work with the tools that you have, and are open to adaptation and interpretation (of the processes and methods), you’ll probably be pretty happy with the results.

Collection

While I try and have pen and paper with me all the time, the Blackberry, by virtue of also being my cellphone, is always with me. Thus collection – getting commitments, obligations and ideas into the trusted system, where they can later be processed – is a key element of the Blackberry’s usefulness to me.
Items to Collect with the Blackberry:

Calendar Commitments

Almost goes without saying, doesn’t it? You make a dinner date, or agree the time and date of the next project review meeting, or whatever – just key it into the Blackberry at the appropriate time and date, let it synchronize back to Outlook, and you’re done.

Don’t forget that you can do all-day events and foreign time zone events directly into the calendar though – the former for “must do on day X but at any time” type next actions you have (“Call Dad” is a fairly typical one of mine). The latter… If you work in a multi-national company, have friends or contacts abroad, etc., then this trick is handy. For example, let’s say you live in Florida, you’re visiting Texas, and you need to schedule a call to England, but you can’t remember if the time difference is five, six or seven hours. Open up the Blackberry calendar, and create the item, recording the time details at the time you want it to happen at the destination. Then change the time-zone field to the destination time zone.

Time Zone field in Calendar Entry

Save it, and you’re done. Open it back up to check, and you’ll see that it’s been changed to the correct local time for you. THIS DOES REQUIRE that you have your current time zone set correctly in the Blackberry in the first place. From the home screen, hit Options, then Time/Date and make sure that the first entry matches up to your current time zone.

Setting your Time Zone

Contact Details / Phone Numbers

Chances are, if I’m being given an address when I’m out and about, it’s either on a business card or in an email. So I process that normally, back at my desk. Phone numbers go straight into the Blackberry though – don’t forget to assign a category when you add a new contact (although if you forget, you can always deal with that as part of the next “morning review”, of which I’ll go into later).

Very occasionally, though, it may be too long-winded to go into the address book application, and create a record “properly” – in that instance, I just fire up the email application and send a message to myself. I can create a new email to myself from the home screen with the following key presses: “C”, “SL” (first two letters of my surname) and “Enter”. I can use that to quickly enter a note (about anything, this isn’t just relevant to phone numbers and such) in shorthand, that I can then process into my system properly during the next morning review.

If your own name doesn’t come up on the addressing screen with just a couple of key presses, consider adding a “fake” entry to your address book, such as “zz”, with your own email address against it. Same net result.

Continues…

In the interests of keeping this post a manageable length and size, I’m going to break here.

Coming up in following posts:

Part Two Can Be Found Here

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