It’s Not The Tool, It’s How You Use It – The Evernote Instant Agenda (Part 1)
April 19, 2013 2 Comments
Another excellent guest post by David Freedman whom I consider a GTD Black Belt.
Did the title get your attention? 🙂 We all know it’s not entirely true – the tool does matter and so too does your technique. Evernote 5 is a crowd favorite here on GTDforCIOs. In a multipart guest post series I will share some of my favorite Evernote tricks that bring to life some practical GTD magic.
I work in a dynamic corporate environment where we value PEOPLE above all. From a GTD perspective, PEOPLE are my most important context. In order to build strong relationships, I want to have meaningful conversations with them at every chance encounter. I want to talk to them about how I enjoyed the restaurant they recommended, tell them that I haven’t forgotten about the email I owe them or ask them what they are doing for their kid’s birthday next week. Here’s how I use Evernote 5 to make sure I’m good at internal relationships.
1) When I PROCESS (recall the steps Capture > Process > Organize > Review > Do) my CAPTURED items from my Evernote inbox, I always tag with a person context unless the item pertains to me and nobody else. If the item pertains to multiple people, I tag the item with multiple people. If the item pertains to a project, I still tag the item with the most important people on that project…you’ll see why soon. I thank the curator of this blog (Michael) for encouraging a shift from my previous nomenclature of “f.Michael” meaning “for Michael” to the more contemporary “@Michael.”
2) In Evernote 5 for Android, I configure my default view to Sort By Notebook as my Notebooks provide important timing, size and status context.
3) In Evernote 5 for Android, I use the new “Shortcuts” feature to save people context searches for those I want to be most prepared for.
4) Prior to scheduled meetings or when I see someone walking down the hall or at any other opportune moment, I click on the shortcut in Evernote 5 for Android pertaining to people I’m about to encounter and VOILA!…I have an instant agenda. I quick visual scan of the items tagged to that individual along with the notebook they are stored in and I load in my mind something meaningful to talk to them about.
Note that in Step 1, I mentioned that even when project is the central focus of an item, I always tag by related people. Being that the “Instant Agenda” is one of my most valuable use cases, the project tag does not help fulfill the goal.