ClearContext Corporate Blog

The release of v5.1 has made it easier than ever to implement GTD within Outlook.  Over the next week I’ll be posting excerpts from our GTD Setup Guide.  See Parts 1, 2, & 3.

Project Designation

ClearContext makes it easy to assign Projects to messages, tasks and appointments. When filing email to a Project folder, all messages in that email conversation – past, present and future – are automatically associated with the assigned project. As you create a Task or Appointment, ClearContext asks for a Project assignment. ClearContext suggests project names for those conversations that do not already have a project assigned. Press the File button to accept the suggestion or the arrow next to it to open the Project Selector and see other Project choices.

File Msg, Thread and Project buttons quickly move email messages from the Inbox to automatically created Project folders for later reference. In addition, ClearContext can automatically save sent messages in these project folders to ensure that all project correspondence is properly tagged and stored together in one filing system. Project assignments are automatically carried over to Tasks and Appointments generated from email conversation and Projects can be easily assigned to new items as they are created. ClearContext suggests Project assignment based on your email history with the current contact.

The Project Selector (depicted above) allows quick project assignment to messages, tasks and appointments. Select a suggested Project or start typing the Project name and ClearContext will narrow your Project list to match your search. Arrow down to select a Project and assign to the conversation.

To create multi-level projects, place a “/” between the Main Project heading and the Sub-Project (i.e. “Client/Implementation”). ClearContext will automatically create Project folders that reflect the hierarchy (i.e. main folder “Client” with sub-folder “Implementation”).

Someday/Maybe File

If you would like to follow David Allen’s suggestion to maintain a Someday/Maybe file, create a special ClearContext Project called “Someday.” Assign Project “Someday” to ideas that you want to think about later. Click the file button and the message will automatically be placed in a subfolder of your ClearContext Project folder. When you’re ready to review these items, open up the Project folder for review.

The release of v5.1 has made it easier than ever to implement GTD within Outlook.  Over the next week I’ll be posting excerpts from our GTD Setup Guide.  See Parts 1 & 2.

Action Management

Following Allen’s advice, the bulk of your email messages (those that you can’t answer in two minutes, delete, or file away for reference) will become tasks or appointments in your trusted system. ClearContext Pro’s Task, Delegate and Schedule buttons allow you to quickly create tasks and appointments from email messages. Assign Outlook categories to these items to denote context, ensuring that they are assigned to the appropriate action list.

Category Assignment in Outlook 2007 and Later

Category Assignment in Outlook 2003

Setup

The first step in setting this up, customize your Outlook Master Categories list to include the action list categories you use as you process your Outlook information. Putting the ‘@” symbol in front of each description will ensure that these display at the top of the categories list. We realize that this is a very personal list that each user will want to tweak for his/her on working style. Examples of common categories many of our customers have found useful include:

@Car

@Delegate

@Desk

@Home

@Internet

@Phone

To customize the category list in Outlook 2003 and earlier:

1. Open a new task or appointment
2. Click the categories button in the lower right hand corner
3. Click the Master Category list button
4. Edit the list as desired

To customize the category list in Outlook 2007:

1. Right click the category color field on an email, task, or appointment
2. Select the “All Categories…” menu item
3. Click New and add a category
4. Optionally add a color code
5. Repeat for each category

Processing

Once this setup is complete, process the inbox using the ClearContext workflow buttons, answering those emails that you can, deleting those that you don’t need, filing reference material using ClearContext File buttons, and creating tasks or appointments for future work. As tasks and appointments are created, assign a context using Outlook’s native category assignment feature and one the categories created above. This will automatically associate the item with the appropriate action list.

The “Tickler” File

Many GTD’ers follow Mr. Allen’s suggestion of creating a “tickler file.” ClearContext’s Defer button is an excellent way to maintain an electronic version of this file. The Defer button moves an email out of the inbox and schedules it as unread at a given time interval or on a given date.

When a message is deferred, a dated folder is created as a subfolder of the “ClearContext Deferred” folder. Consider these your tickler files. Click on any day’s folder to review upcoming items or simply wait for the message to re-appear in your Inbox as scheduled.

For example, say you receive an invite to a corporate networking event on the 25th. It’s still three weeks off and you don’t need to RSVP until the day before. Click Defer and “schedule” the message for the 24th. The message is moved into a subfolder with the month and day you have designated. You can click on this folder at anytime to see all messages pending for that day. Alternatively, the message automatically re-appears in your Inbox, unread, on the 24th, reminding you that you need to make a decision about the event.

The release of v5.1 has made it easier than ever to implement GTD within Outlook.  Over the next week I’ll be posting excerpts from our GTD Setup Guide.  See Part 1 here.

Introduction

Many individuals overwhelmed with information take control of Microsoft Outlook by combining ClearContext’s flexible and customizable email management features such as inbox prioritization and automated categorization with their favorite parts of David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology to create a powerful information management strategy. Below, we outline basic steps many of our customers have taken to set up ClearContext and Microsoft Outlook to support GTD email processing including creation of context-specific action lists, project categorization, creation and maintenance of a “tickler” file, and steps to quickly implement a weekly review. ClearContext also provides email metrics and measurement to help track how well you are handling email. Use this guide to get started – we expect everyone will tweak the system to match their particular information processing requirements.

For the purposes of this guide we assume that you have a working knowledge of GTD prior to implementation of ClearContext software. If not, we recommend you visit the Getting Things Done website and find some reference materials to get you started. For an introduction to Getting Things Done, see “What is GTD?”

The process in this whitepaper was developed by ClearContext customers and is the result of real-world use of the product. For detailed discussion on Getting Things Done and ClearContext, see the ClearContext discussion forums. In particular the forum post GTD Users: Start Here contains a collection of GTD-related links.

Overview

In his methodology, David Allen suggests categorizing your email by project and context. Most technology solutions address one or the other well, but do not give a comprehensive way of tracking both. Using ClearContext, Projects are assigned to messages, tasks and appointments via the ClearContext toolbar and native Outlook categories are used to denote context. Tasks and Appointments can then be viewed by project or context using the Dashboard and the ClearContext Organizer.

Workflow

ClearContext gives several features to process the Inbox quickly and get it to empty. Each button below can automatically file the original message to an associated project folder and link the item to the current message conversation:

Task creates an Outlook task from the currently selected message. Assign an Outlook category to this item to maintain action lists.

Delegate automatically creates either an assigned task or a forwarded message with an associated task for quick delegation to another person.

Schedule creates an appointment from the current message contents.

Defer places the current message in a deferred folder for a given period of time or until a given date. This is an excellent way to create and maintain a “tickler” file.

Filing buttons (File Msg, Thread or Project) automatically moves messages, conversations, or entire projects of email into associated Project Folders. Use these buttons to archive reference material that does not require one of the actions above.

Followup Message allows the creation of a special task tied to a message conversation. When sending an email, create a follow-up to remind you if you do not receive a response within a specified amount of time. If you do receive a response, the follow-up task is automatically cancelled.

Unsubscribe automatically files current and future messages of a given conversation to either their Project folder or an unsubscribed folder. This helps remove those long email threads that you have no interest in that are cluttering your Inbox.

Review

In addition, several ClearContext features provide a view across all messages, tasks, and appointments; regardless of location:

MessageContext displays all activity for a given message, task, or appointment. This includes all messages in the current email conversation (the original message and all replies to it) and all appointments and tasks created from the conversation using one of the workflow buttons above.

The Dashboard displays a project view of your data. Pin the projects that are most important to you. Double click a project name to take notes and display all related tasks, appointments, contacts and files. The Dashboard is the control panel for implementation of GTD in ClearContext, providing project centered information within Outlook.

Much like the Dashboard, the ClearContext Organizer displays a list of global tasks that can be filtered by date, project, category, and/or priority. The Organizer is perfect for those who want a more robust way to filter and review their task list, providing an efficient vehicle for performing the weekly review.

ClearContext measures your email productivity and presents the results in the Scorecard. The Scorecard helps identify problem areas to work on and shows how you have managed your Inbox size over time. Click the More button at the bottom of the Dashboard to access your Scorecard.

The release of v5.1 has made it easier than ever to implement GTD within Outlook.  Over the next week I’ll be posting excerpts from our GTD Setup Guide.

Quick Reference

For those who want to dive right into setting up a trusted system, here are the basics for setting up GTD with ClearContext Pro:

Projects: ClearContext allows the assignment of Projects to email conversations. A project is automatically created for each Outlook folder. Use the ClearContext filing buttons to file email to Projects. Use a “/” when creating a Project to designate sub-projects (i.e. “Project/Sub-Project”).

Categories = Context: Use ClearContext workflow buttons (Task, Schedule, Delegate, Defer, etc.) to quickly process messages in the Inbox. When creating a Task or Appointment, use Outlook native categories to denote context (@Work, @Phone, etc.) for easy viewing of context-specific action lists. Use File Original Message when replying or creating a Task/Appointment and ClearContext will automatically file the original email to a Project folder.

Review: Use the ClearContext Organizer to review your Messages and To-Do’s by context, project and/or date. Open the organizer from the ClearContext Dashboard or via the ClearContext menu.

Along with the v5.1 release, we have updated most of our online help.  We’ll be posting over the coming weeks.

With ClearContext, you’re just minutes away from automatically keeping all your email, tasks, and projects organized using the folders and filing system you already use!  These 4 simple steps will get you started – ClearContext will take care of the rest!  If you haven’t done so already, download and install ClearContext here.

1. File Messages to Suggested Folders

   ClearContext automatically suggests the right folders to file messages to based on your past email.  Click File Msg to file that folder or the down arrow to see more suggestions.

2. Clear Your Inbox

   
   Click Defer to move messages out of your Inbox for a specified time.  They will return to your Inbox, unread, at the time you choose.  Unsubscribe from unwanted email conversations.  Future messages in this thread will be moved to the Unsubscribed folder.

3. Create Tasks and Appointments
   
   
   Click Task and Schedule on the ClearContext toolbar to turn email into tasks or appointments.  If you haven’t assigned a project name to the email already, ClearContext will prompt you to select one.

4. Organize Tasks
   
   Click Organize Tasks in the Dashboard to easily organize all your tasks.  Select a bunch of overdue tasks in the Date tab to re-assign their due dates, then go to the Project tab and hit Assign Project to make tasks part of a project.
5. View Your Projects

   Now go to the ClearContext Dashboard sidebar in your inbox.  Select Active Projects to see a summary of your projects and upcoming tasks/appointments.  Click on a project name to switch to the Project Dashboard for detailed project information.

ClearContext learns where you file email from specific people and threads then automatically creates projects for those folders to keep all your project email, tasks, appointments, and notes organized.  Just follow the simple steps above and ClearContext will keep you on top of everything you need to get done in Outlook!

View a video demonstration of these concepts here.

In addition to the product-wide improvements in v5.1, the release introduces an exciting new feature for TWC customers – single folder filing!  As TWC followers are aware, filing to a single folder is a core feature of Michael Linenberger’s methodology.  Use ClearContext filing buttons to assign categories and file to your processed mail folder.  Download the TWC version here.

Some TWC/MYN v5.1 upgrade notes:

• Single folder filing is enabled by default.  To continue to file to individual project folders, go to ClearContext > Options and uncheck "File all messages to root folder"
• By default, the MYN Powered version files all messages /Inbox/Processed Mail.  Change the folder you file to in Root Folder for Filing and Projects in ClearContext > Options.  Note that if you previously designated a different root folder here (i.e. /Inbox) single folder filing will file to that folder instead of Processed Mail.
• If you are using the default TWC toolbar, filing buttons will appear after the upgrade.  If you customized the toolbar, you may need to add these buttons via ClearContext > Options > UI/Toolbar.

Michael has posted a wealth of information about v5 on his website.  Start here.

Congrats to the Office team for releasing Office 2010 to manufacturing!

ClearContext v5.0.2 fully supports Outlook 2010 RTM (32-bit).  We still plan to support the 64-bit Office 2010 release in the future.  In the meantime, note that Microsoft does not recommend using the 64-bit version unless you really need it:

“The recommendations for which edition of Office 2010 to install are as follows:

• If users in your organization depend on existing extensions to Office, such as ActiveX controls, third-party add-ins, in-house solutions built on previous versions of Office, or 32-bit versions of programs that interface directly with Office, we recommend that you install 32-bit Office 2010 (the default installation) on computers that are running both 32-bit and 64-bit supported Windows operating systems.
• If some users in your organization are Excel expert users who work with Excel spreadsheets that are larger than 2 gigabytes (GB), they can install the 64-bit edition of Office 2010. In addition, if you have in-house solution developers, we recommend that those developers have access to the 64-bit edition of Office 2010 so that they can test and update your in-house solutions on the 64-bit edition of Office 2010.

I do expect some minor tweaks to the ClearContext 2010 ribbon to come in the v5.1 release.  Watch the blog for future detail.

We’ve posted a few updates to the tutorial page over the last week.  Here’s the latest message prioritization tutorial:

We will be posting updates to our other tutorials after the v5.1 release.

We’ve posted a few updates to the tutorial page over the last week.  Here’s the latest email message filing tutorial:

There’s more to come…

As long time readers are aware, we are big fans of partner Michael Linenberger’s no-nonsense approach to email and task management.  This week he has released a new productivity book, Master Your Workday Now! Michael’s new book outlines an approach for overcoming overwhelm and achieving your highest level goals.  From www.masteryourworkday.com:

“Within minutes of picking up this book you will:

• Get more done, more quickly (and then get home earlier)…
• Eliminate overwhelm (because it’s impossible to accomplish the critical, big-picture tasks when you’re buried under an avalanche of ‘minutiae’)…
• Develop hyper-focus, and concentrate on the task-at-hand (so you’re less prone to distraction from outside influences)…
• Create, and master, a more productive life…
• Have your day support your goals.
• Restore much-needed sanity to your work life…
• Instill order and sense to your daily tasks and e-mail …

For a limited time, Michael is including a free bonus video and other gifts when you order Master Your Workday Now! See MasterYourWorkday.com for more detail.