I've re-added my "Skills Matrix" to the site.  You can get to it from anywhere by clicking the link in the sidebar.  Nothing special, just a detailed breakdown of what I do (and don't do).

Great way to kick-off the weekend (especially after an annoyingly slow week) - WEEKLY REVIEW TIME!

My Checklist

For the curious here is my Weekly Review Checklist:

• Furn on SomaFM > Groove Salad
• Gather all loose papers and process
• Empty scheming book
• Review previous calendar
• Review next week's calendar
• Empty your head
• Review Client Action List and Folders
• Review Project Action List and Folders
• Review Sometime/Maybe Action List
• Check Bank Accounts
• Review "To Read" stack

Always keep in mind the mantra: Process | Collect | Organize
and "if it takes less than 2 minutes, do it".

Weekly Review Resources

• Getting Things Done, p.184
• http://michaelhyatt.blogs.com/workingsmart/2004/06/the_importance_.html
• http://www.eafarris.com/documenting_my_gtd_system_part_2_the_weekly_review
• http://smerino.bol.ucla.edu/gtd/gtd-3.html
  

As mentioned previously I was considering moving back to Outlook from Thunderbird. Prior to July 4 this came a reality.I didn't have any major issues with Thunderbird just a lot if little gripes. Lets review shall we:

Pros

• Low footprint
• Extensions (yay!)
• Open source
• Tight development cycle
• Single goal

Cons

• Open source feel
• Lack of calendar integration
• Lots of little usability issues

I'm not saying Outlook is perfect (far from it) - but for my needs (single-point-of-organization) it's a better solution.

I proceeded over to the Microsoft Office 2007 Preview site and obtained a beta version of Outlook 2007 (I'm still using Office 2003 for other apps). Yes, it's free (for now)!

The Great Email Migration

The Hoops

Since Outlook uses the proprietary PST format you have to jump through a couple hoops to import a large amount of email into it. The hoops are:

1. Export from Thunderbird to .mbox
2. Import .mbox into Outlook Express
3. Import "Outlook Express Settings and Email" into Outlook

The actual migration was a painfully tedious 4 hour procedure. I've been using Thunderbird since January 1 and had thousands of emails and (more painful) they were organized into a good tree of organization. The total size of my Thunderbird profile was just under 3GB. The reason the migration was so tedious was because I had to do a folder-by-folder export from Thunderbird to the mbox format. The reason for the folder-by-folder rather than one single, large mbox file is because Outlook Express would crash after about 20-30 minutes of importing the mbox file.

To verify the migration I did a folder-by-folder comparison of Outlook Express and Thunderbird. Once I knew all my email was imported into Outlook Express i fired up Outlook 2007 and did the final import.

Once again I did a folder-by-folder comparison of Thunderbird and Outlook and everything checked out.

Setting the Settings

I currently have 9 active email accounts so it took a little while to get them setup in Outlook and have the emails routed to appropriate folders. Next I setup some basic rules for spam, mailing lists, etc.

Results

Since I was an avid Outlook user for many years at my prior 9-to-5 jobs I was pretty familiar with the overall interface. A couple new things I really like about Outlook 2007:

• Multiple calendars - Still some usability kinks to work out
• Addition of "Categories" - I use these for my general "importance" flagging
• To Do sidebar - This will come in more handy when I begin using Task Lists more
• Categorized Mail Search Folder
• Overall UI improvements

I had to make some quick adjustments to keep my sanity:

• Attachment reminder. Searches for phrases like "attach" in the body of a message and reminds you if you forgot to actually attach. I leveraged Mark's VB Code: http://mark.bird.googlepages.com/home
• Ability to quickly save embedded images in emails. Right-clicking and saving an embedded image usually results in a junky .bmp. I found some code and made some modifications so now I just click a toolbar button and it dumps any embedded images to a folder on the desktop.
• MessageSave for Outlook is a quick and easy way to export messages from Outlook in a .msg format for easy archiving/backup.

So far I'm very very happy with my switch back to Outlook. Soon I'll have my automatic export setup for archiving and backing up email, integration with Google Calendar and (hopefully) Google Contacts.

Links

• Importing Mozilla Thunderbird mails in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express
  http://robertpeloschek.blogspot.com/2005/11/importing-mozilla-thunderbird-mails-in.html
  
  
• Thunderbird to Outlook
  http://www.broobles.com/imapsize/th2outlook.php
  
  
• Attachment reminder
  http://mark.bird.googlepages.com/home
  
  
• Save Embedded Images
  http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/saveembeddedpictures.htm
  
  
• MessageSave for Outlook
  http://www.techhit.com/messagesave/
  
  

Stumbled across some new sites today with some interesting thoughts.  Added to the "Links" section:

• Slacker Manager
  
• Jason Alan Moore
• GTD Wannabe

I've made a (small) update to the Projects section of the site. The long-term plan is to provide details, code, screenshots, etc - in the meantime I thought I could at least share what some of my ongoing projects are. I'm really looking forward to the DIYManifesto project even though it will be pretty time consuming and likely not a revenue generator!

...more soon!

GTD-less Vacation

Jenn and I spent the pre-July 4th long weekend out at Topsail Island, NC.  I had plans to do some GTD seven horizons evaluation - mainly the 50000 foot perspective.  However, it was so nice to relax and enjoy the beach, our friends and each other without email, laptops, scheming and next actions .  I think it's important to work into your GTD system implementation a way for you to take a (short) break and really enjoy life.

A No-Stress Vacation?

Typically I would be pretty stressed out taking a long weekend with no billable work and no real productivity going on.  However, even after returning and having a pile of next actions I didn't feel any more stress or anxiety than when I left.  In fact I felt recharged and rejuvenated - ready to use my system to really make it a productive week.  I read quite a bit about the obvious tactical benefits of GTD and peoples' implementation - not enough is said about the real mental and emotional benefits that folks like me get from a GTD implementation.

twIEking

Pronunciation: 'twEEk-ing
Function: verb

Definition: JavaScript and or Cascading Style Sheet work required to make a design function in Internet Explorer when it works as desired in other web browsers.

Sample usage: "The positioning of DIVs in that comp is going to take a lot of twIEking".

Urban Dictionary: twIEking

---
I hearby offer the word "twIEking" for use by the interweb.

This post about Pretty Code, Ugly Code by Jeff at CodingHorror got me thinking this morning... It's from a more lower-level programming (C, C#) than what I deal with (scripting, css, markup languages) but a lot of the principles carry over.

Here are some quick thoughts for more usable code in my environment (HTML, scripting, style sheets):

1. Treat scripts as blocks of code.

It's easy to ignore defining types and proper naming conventions when scripting with JavaScript. However, the extra couple minutes you save is easily used up (and far more) later when you (or someone else) has to update/refactor your script. Basic principles like naming conventions, formatting, etc not only make the code easier to read but easier to reuse and refactor later.

2. Be verbose.

I'm teased frequently about the verbose-ness of my code. It's not uncommon for me to have JavaScript variables, functions and arrays with names that are 10-15 characters long (ex: "strErrorHandlerHTMLLog", "fncSQLSelectWithConnString", "fncPositionDragResizeImages"). Instead of the common "i" and "j" in functions I use things like "intPersonIndex" and "intFileIndex". To me this is a good indicator on how seriously a "professional" takes their product. Even in prototyping there is no reason to ignore good standards.

3. Document.

It only takes a few seconds to describe the purpose of a function or strange-looking block of HTML. Weeks from now if you have to revisit a piece of code it will keep your stress level down if you have accurate (and somewhat descriptive) documentation. Along with a brief purpose it's also helpful to mention known limitations or functionality to be added later. I do this a lot when working in ASP with database connections. Things like "Need to add checking for improperly formatted filters" and such show up frequently.

4. Proper file structure.

Although not really code-related I think this should be included in any "style guide" type analysis of coding. I plan on outlining this more later... Having a consistent directory structure and naming convention makes a huge difference in the maintainability of code. A structure that's worked best for me has been:

• /includes/
• dbfunctions.asp
• errorhandler.asp
• functions.asp
• functions.js
• pagesetup.asp
• print.css
• style.css
• variables.asp
• /images/
• /external/ - images used in email campaigns and other external sources
• /landing/ - landing pages from adwords/email campaigns
• /section1/ - primary site section
• /section2/ - primary site section
• /section3/ - primary site section

Some quick references:

• Code Complete by Steve McConnell
• HTML Tidy
• Doing Sh*t Right by John Brown - Coming soon...
  

I'm sure I'll add more later...

I just got done adding a TON of web-related links to the Links section of the site. Enjoy...

Due to the conference last Friday (which was quite an... experience) I'm still playing catchup from last week...  A couple items:

Punkey's Archives

Looks like Punkey (whatsthenextaction.com) is taking a break from his site for a little bit.  I totally understand - I've been much to hesitant posting here because I think "what the hell do people care about how I'm using my scheming book".  Once I get some high-priority things knocked out expect more "what the hell" posts... In the meantime check out Punkey's archives...

Thunderbird -> Outlook Migration?

This post and comments on lifehacker got me thinking about Outlook.  Since I've been seeing the new Microsoft Office 2007 Beta reviews and such I've been thinking off switching back (from Thunderbird).  I used Outlook from 1998 - 2004 and, although I thought it was quite usable I was frustrated by the big footprint and lack of configurable options and tweak I switched to Thunderbird.  Although I like the smallness and single-goalness of Thunderbird it is very open-source feeling and does like the usability of Outlook.  So... just added to my "research" list is Outlook (and the rest of Office 2007).

Mindmapping Software

Interesting discussion over on Black Belt Productivity about Weekly Reviews that provided some nuggets.  Once I get some free time (uh-huh) I'll be checking out Mindjet MindManager. Another reason to think about Outlook for better GTD management.