My friend and mentor Andy Abramson who authors the excellent blog, Working Anywhere.  He has just posted an article called Tools of the Global Nomad that is a must-read for anyone that does any serious amount of work while on the road as well as folks that work from home but have the needs (or wants) of services comparable to those that any reasonably sized and appropriately equipped enterprise would have.

Andy’s list of service providers is very comprehensive however there’s one company missing and I think it is a vital one to have on your list if you travel in Europe at all and especially if you rely on mobile data in any way, shape, or form.  That company is Yoigo.  They’re a telecommunications service provider that sells 3G sim cards that work just about everywhere in Europe.  The deal with them is that for about the equivalent of $1.25 per day you get unlimited voice and data with your own new international number.

These SIM cards are sold all over the place - you can get them at grocery stores, tobacco shops, etc.  These cards, in and of themselves are enough reason to unlock your iPhone if you are planning on going to Europe.  They mean the difference between being connected or not being connected (or being connected and not coming home to a $17,000 data bill - no I am not joking - I really did get one of those!)

Among the providers Andy lists are:

PhoneFusion,  GrandCentral , Jazinga,  Boingo , Skype, MaxRoam, GizmoProject, Truphone, Mobivox and many others. This is one of those “print it out and save it” sort of posts as it references a ton of best of class providers that can make it a lot easier and more economical to get things done and look good doing it.

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Today, I’ll share the next part of my e-mail that answers the question: “How to ramp up quickly with GTD and Lotus Notes?“  We’ve touched on the productivity equation and we’ve looked at how methodology is the first component of the equation. We also explored the technology or tools that can be used to implement GTD in Lotus Notes.  Last week, I discussed Mobility: how to get things done on the run. Now, as I begin to wrap up this series, I want to discuss the value I’ve found in getting coaching in how to make all of this work together.

There’s a lot to be learned from reading books and attending seminars. I routinely do both. But when I really want to improve my skills or performance in a given area I turn to a coach, a mentor, or an expert that can help me accomplish my objectives. I think it’s important to understand that hiring a productivity coach is not a magic bullet for getting things done. YOU have to do the work, but a good coach can help you see what may not be readily apparent to you and encourage you to build sustainable habits. (I’ll talk more about sustainable habits at the end of this post.)

Here’s what I wrote to the person who asked me about getting things done on the run…

[Read more →]

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Michael Sliwinski from Nozbe has another one of his quick, two-minute productivity videos up for us to enjoy.  Michael has kindly notified us first so GTDTimes is once again the first site to be airing this video.  Are you ready to learn about In-boxes?

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Black Belt Productivity is a wonderful GTD resource.  If you don’t have it bookmarked already, I highly recommend adding it to your reader as it frequently contains valuable information. A recent post on how you can measure your progress with the tools that David provides in both his book, “Getting Things Done” as well as during his road map seminars is a prime example.

Authored by guest writer Patrick Rhone, the  post does an excellent job of showing how the vertical structure upon which your entire GTD focus is based - from Runway up to your 50,000 ft Purpose and Principles - can be used as a measuring stick.  When utilized properly in the context of regular reviews, this vertical map is an elegant tool that David built right into his productivity strategy.

Patrick’s post helps bring this key point home in a clear and concise way;  illustrating the depth of the GTD system while at the same time gently reminding us of the crucial role that the weekly review plays in making that system work for us the way David intends it to.

From the post:

In other words, your actions at a daily “runway” level should be directly and vertically tied to your principals and values at the “50,000 ft” level. To get a real sense of this, look at it from the bottom up. Once you can see and understand how a project like “Fixing up the house” fits into the overall goals of life (In my case “Relationships: Bethany: Life Partner”). It will give you a new drive and focus on the importance of follow through on the various associated action items in the project. How are the projects you perform at work fitting into your job description? If the project is not fitting into that description or role then is your role changing or is that project better delegated to someone else more appropriate?

For more go here…

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Michael Sliwinski of Nozbe has started producing two-minute videos featuring different tips, techniques and GTD-related concepts.  He’s been kind enough to provide GTDtimes with the initial exclusive on this fun and helpful information.  Enjoy the video, it is two-minutes well spent.

Incidentally, if you need a good two minute timer to help you determine what you can accomplish in just two minutes, there are a number of resources available to you online. There are so many countdown widgets for so many platforms that instead of naming one or two, here’s the Google search result so you can simply choose the one you like yourself.

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GTDtimes is pleased to be the first site anywhere in the world to announce news of a major event in the world of GTD…

For the first time anywhere  five hundred of the most intelligent, inspired and productive people on the planet will gather in San Francisco, California to learn, share, explore, inspire and most importantly to Get Things Done…

The Getting Things Done Global Summit!

Headlined by the inimitable David Allen, author of “Getting Things Done: the Art of Stress Free Productivity” this first GTD Global Summit, taking place on March 11th to the 13th, 2009,  promises to be a truly once-in-a-lifetime event.

Not only will attendees get the chance to  learn the latest on GTD by the man that created the strategy, David will also be sharing new material from his forthcoming book “Making it All Work: Winning at the Game of Business and Business of Life“.

Complimenting David will be a cadre of some of the most accomplished and effective people in the world:

• CEOs that have have had the insight and vision to implement a GTD culture throughout their organizations yielding extraordinary results

• Coaches who will share how implementing a GTD strategy has had profound benefits for their clients from world class athletes to struggling students

• David’s Senior GTD Facilitators who will lead hands on sessions to share their real-world techniques to help you implement GTD for yourself and your organization and maximize the success you will achieve as a result.

• Surprise guests that will inspire, awe and excite you with their stories of how they managed to achieve success, in some cases against unimagineable adversity and odds that would have been dramatically improved had they only been one in a million.

If  other conferences are about ideas and inspiration, the GTD Global Summit is about action and implementation.  No other event will have this level of practical, how to information to help you further refine your personal GTD strategy, troubleshoot your own implementation, or introduce you to new tools and techniques to take even the most advanced GTD Blackbelt to a whole new level.

In addition, demonstration areas will be reserved for attendees to check out the latest in high tech gadgetry- a veritable “geek’s paradise” of software, hardware, and accessories will be available for you to discover, test, and compare; from tried and true products you may have seen to the latest whiz-bang prototypes that you may not have even heard of, let alone seen or touched.

Of course one of the greatest benefits to attending the GTD Global Summit will be the opportunity to meet and network with five-hundred other GTD practitioners all in one place.  If you’re a GTD’er you already know that people that use GTD to help them stay on top of things are consistently among the most intelligent, informed and productive people on the planet.  Here’s your chance to make new friends, develop new professional relationships and capitalize on the energy and collective intelligence that only a group such as this can generate.   If you’ve attended special events in the past, you know that half the value lies in the people you meet and the friendships you establish.  Now take that prior experience and multiply it by 500 and imagine the possibilities.

The GTD Global Summit is scheduled to take place from the 11th to the 13th of March, 2009 at the unparalleled new Hotel Intercontinental in San Francisco, California.  Only five-hundred fortunate individuals will have the chance to attend this life-changing event.  Reservations can be made at the official GTD Global Summit Website.

Further news about the GTD Global Summit will be made available here as soon as we receive it.  The link to the conference website above is now live so be sure to make your reservation before it’s too late!

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Although not GTD specific, this article from Harvard Business Online was simply too interesting not to post. Here’s an excerpt:

This is a company that’s bursting with personality, to the point where a huge number of its 1,600 employees are power users of Twitter so that their friends, colleagues, and customers know what they’re up to at any moment in time. But here’s what’s really interesting. It’s a hard job, answering phones and talking to customers for hours at a time. So when Zappos hires new employees, it provides a four-week training period that immerses them in the company’s strategy, culture, and obsession with customers. People get paid their full salary during this period.

After a week or so in this immersive experience, though, it’s time for what Zappos calls “The Offer.” The fast-growing company, which works hard to recruit people to join, says to its newest employees: “If you quit today, we will pay you for the amount of time you’ve worked, plus we will offer you a $1,000 bonus.” Zappos actually bribes its new employees to quit! (read the rest of this great article here

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Pat, the CEO of DavidCo forwarded this article to my attention from Spinweb and their Shift+Refresh Newsletter. I thought it was worth reading so I’m sharing it here verbatim for your enjoyment. You can subscribe to their newsletter by visiting their website.

The Art of Single-tasking
“Eighty percent of success is showing up.” Woody Allen

For those of us in business, we understand the gravity of these words. Often, it is not the smartest, fastest, or luckiest person who finds success. Instead, it’s the person who shows up consistently.

Being present in your work is a valuable ’soft skill’ — one thats not easily mastered. (”Soft skills” refer to personal habits and traits that compliment technical job skills).

Since the boom of personal computers, the pace of business life has increased steadily. Blackberries, cell phones, and email have become the new standard for how work is done. This creates a constant stream of input, tasks, appointments, and priorities. Not only does work still need to be done, now it needs to be done ‘faster’ to stay ahead of the competition.

While, this massive amount of data can be overwhelming at first, there is a point where it becomes so common place that we have adjusted our expectations to manage the stream of data. This new expectation includes the concept of Multi-tasking, being in constant motion, and attempting to do more than one thing at a time.

Brain scan tests have been conducted on the subject of Mutli-tasking, with interesting results. Brain activity for a person focusing on one task show around 80% of the brain churning on the task. With focus split between 2 separate tasks, the same brain shows only 20% activity - or 10% on each task!

Ask yourself, “When is the last time I did the following and how productive was it?
Held a client meeting without a clear agenda and end goal.
Sat through a staff meeting and made notes about the rest of the work you had to get done.
Made a phone call and wrote an email at the same time.
Proofread a document and checked for new email.
Drove your car and read email.

[Read more →]

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Fokke Kooistra, one of the contributors to GTDtimes also blogs at his own blog, Productivity 101. In a post yesterday, Fokke observes that while there are now a large number of sites with GTD information, not all of these sites provide the most accurate content based upon a strict definition of GTD. To help people find answers that are accurate, Fokke has used Google Coop to start a GTD specific search tool that only contains links to sites that have information explicitly based upon David Allen’s concepts or accepted best practices derived therefrom. Do you know of a site that should be included? Visit Fokke’s post and suggest it in the comments.

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These guys, lurking at the back of the room aren’t playing video games, at least I hope not. They are two of the newest team members at The David Allen Company, John Ward and Chris McIntyre. Both seasoned presenters, they are here to audit Kelly class and sharpen their GTD presentation skills. We enjoyed a nice lunch together, I look forward to seeing them in action, soon.

Kelly just gave us a tour on how to setup Notes and Outlook as GTD implementation tools. Even though I think I know this stuff, I still learn new things and I got to share some tips of my own. Listening to some of the questions from the audience that inspired some ideas for features I can build into eProductivity for Lotus Notes to make getting things done with Lotus Notes easier. I’ve got those items on my agenda list to discuss with my team.

The seminar is going well, Kelly’s in peak form, people are learning and laughing at the stories she’s sharing from her work in the GTD trenches. (Example: Most full e-mail box? 87,000 emails. True story from Kelly.)

Well, time to get back to the seminar. I’ll try to post another highlight, soon.

Update: Chris is ahead by 45,000 points.

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