SmartMinion (with Comments)

Added Skills Matrix

John D Brown (johndbrown@smartminion.com) — 7/18/2006 8:52:37 PM

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).

Weekly Review - Sure feels good

John D Brown (johnbrown@smartminion.com) — 7/14/2006 5:29:53 PM

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

Thunderbird to Outlook

John D Brown (johndbrown@smartminion.com) — 7/10/2006 9:18:30 PM

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:

Export from Thunderbird to .mbox
Import .mbox into Outlook Express
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.

New "Links" additions

John D Brown (johndbrown@smartminion.com) — 7/10/2006 7:16:32 PM

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

Projects Added

John D Brown (johndbrown@smartminion.com) — 7/9/2006 3:02:08 PM

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!

July 4 Vacation

John D Brown (johndbrown@smartminion.com) — 7/9/2006 2:57:12 PM

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.

Define: twIEking

John D Brown (johnbrown@smartminion.com) — 6/22/2006 9:11:47 PM

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.

Pretty Code - Usable Code

John D Brown (johnbrown@smartminion.com) — 6/20/2006 1:34:17 PM

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...

Major Update to Links Section

John D Brown (johnbrown@smartminion.com) — 6/20/2006 12:28:56 AM

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

Random Items

John D Brown (johnbrown@smartminion.com) — 6/19/2006 9:42:10 PM

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.

System Failure

John D Brown (johnbrown@smartminion.com) — 6/8/2006 4:49:06 PM

Not a GTD System Failure but rather my primary workstation. I guess when harddrives are running 24/7 for months on end they reach a breaking point - mine was sometime after 3am last night.

Thankfully I do backups regularly and wasn't (too) concerned with data loss. I am however very annoyed at the 8-10 hours I'm going to "lose" doing a system rebuild on a new drive. Oh well, comes with the territory. At the moment I've repaired most of the filesystem and partition errors and can boot into Windows XP - however, I don't trust the drive and will be reinstalling Sunday night (onto a new drive).

I'll have an upcoming post on my trusty backup system but to prevent the need for ground-up rebuilds on a drive failure I need to make more use of Acronis TrueImage (which is fantastic).

If you don't do regular backups of your important data do it now and do it often!

Geek information (incase someone has a similar failure):

Found my system after POST with a message "Inaccessible Boot Device".
Power-off and wait.
Remove all unnecessary peripherals (printers, scanners, ipod, USB hubs, etc).
Boot up - after the "loading Windows XP" screen delay and then system reboots itself.
Boot into "safe mode" - gets to loading "agp440.sys" and fails soon after (reboots itself).
Boot Hiren v8.1 boot CD.
Run Norton Disk Doctor - Scan Disk.
Boot Windows XP install CD - enter "Recovery Console".
Run "chkdsk /r" - repairs files and directories (took just over 2 hours on 200GB SATA drive) - found and fixed a lot of file system errors.
Reboot using Windows XP install CD - enter "Recovery Console".
Run "bootcfg /rebuild" (details and instructions).
Reboot.
Backup everything.
Remove untrustworthy harddrive.
Reinstall on new harddrive.

My Scheming Book

John D Brown (johnbrown@smartminion.com) — 6/3/2006 2:51:07 PM

Since I began working at Dell (circa 1998) I've been surrounded by really smart people - there were always big ideas and projects and general scheming going on. This necessitated getting a scheming book to write things down in.

For the longest time it was just one of those simple $0.99 pocket notebooks. That seemed to work fine but didn't provide any organizational or advanced features - just lots of papers. They were also extremely fragile - I ended up using rubber bands to hold it together.

When I moved to North Carolina back in 2000 I happened across a small planner at one of the office supply stores. It met all my requirements:

Fit in my pocket
Zipped up (allowing for loose papers/items)
Rugged
Cheap

After being annoyed by the day-to-day calendar pages and other nonsense I ripped it all out and had/have sections for notes about projects, things to buy and a small set of 3x5 notecards. You can see a similar planner to mine (although for about $12 more) on the Day Runner website.

The Funly Unproductive Digital Age

Briefly in 2002 I played around with a Compaq Ipaq PDA I got for a really good deal. I even posted some funny comparisons with pictures.

Although I loved the idea of "syncing" and being always connected I didn't find it all that productive (or comfortable) so it went to Ebay and I went back to my wonderful scheming book.

A Good Portable Pen

One thing I've always wanted for my scheming book though was a good pen. Not just any pen, a portable but sturdy pen. Last week I found such a device. It is the Zebra Telescopic pen (Amazon product info). I happened across them at the local office supply store and although they are more pricey than a "normal" they are really great. I keep one in the scheming book and I keep one next to my wallet and short stack of folded 3x5 cards (for when I don't haul my scheming book around).

So, if you are looking for a portable, high-end, no-leak, quality pen then the Telescopic by Zebra is for you.

When I get my GTD system more ironed out I will definetly be refining my scheming book - mostly likely using templates and items discovered at www.diyplanner.com.

Weekly Review - gotta love it

John D Brown (johnbrown@smartminion.com) — 6/3/2006 2:12:35 PM

First Weekly Review

I got a little swamped with some billable work Friday afternoon so it ate away my scheduled "Weekly Review" time. However, it's a rainy quiet Saturday and the perfect time for weekly review!

I've stayed pretty on-top of my Projects List and Clients List this week so I had a good grasp of Next Actions, scheduled events, etc. So, that made the review go pretty quick. I had about 6 things in my "in" basket to process (brainstorm next actions, add to list, put in project/client/archive folder).

I triggered a new idea to work into my system. I guess its similar to what the tickler file (pp.173-175) is for but for just the review process. Anyway - I kept thinking it would be so nice to have a weekly and a monthly review checklist - a list I can just go down, item by item, and process steps during my review time. So, I've got that added as a "hot" item to brainstorm putting together this week.

I can really see how skipping or abbreviating the weekly review can have an adverse affect on your GTD implementation. It doesn't seem as glamorous as the collection, process or organizing steps but without it I could very easily slip back into unmanaged checklists with little or no "Next Actions" specified. It's true what some other cult members say; "if you're not doing the weekly review then you're not doing GTD".

My weekly review this week was pretty quick - took about an hour. Of course I still haven't fully implemented a true GTD system for my digital items. Reviewing my folder of "to read" links is going to be brutal!

Comments are coming soon - promise!

First Work-day of Usage

John D Brown (johnbrown@smartminion.com) — 5/30/2006 3:39:52 PM

It's been (or at least felt like) a very productive and stress-free day. Here's how it went down:

Up pretty early (for me) and in front of "system" at 8:30. My first brainless task was to check email, dump spam and do a quick review of my feeds (FeedDemon). Next I added a couple items from yesterday (that I'd put in my "in" basket) to the appropriate project folder and list.

Daily Checklist

At about 9:00 I created a daily checklist. I opened my "clients - next actions" list and "projects - next actions" list. I then prioritized the 8 items based on what could wait until the end of day and what I would likely need review about from clients. I also added some notes to the right for items on tomorrow's checklist (based on my review of my next actions list) that I wanted to be sure got some visibility.

The checklist has served great with already over half completed or moved to a new "next action" state. It's a really good positive feeling rather than waiting for "can I get this by EOD" emails to apply appropriate mental resources.

I need to review some of the later chapters of GTD but one thing that would have helped me a little more is some direction on really using the system on a day-to-day (even hour-by-hour) basis. I'm learning as I go, which is exciting, but I'm sure there are some "best practices" I haven't uncovered yet.

New Issue?

I'm using some basic text files for managing my "next actions" (as mentioned previously). One thing I don't like is when I update or go through some progress there is no history. I've added a project to my "someday/maybe" list to build a very simple web-based database app that will solve this. Until then the annoyance of no history in the system will just have to remain.

So far so good - definitely a better state of mind...

GTD Implementation - Day 2: Processing, Organizing

John D Brown (johnbrown@smartminion.com) — 5/29/2006 11:21:12 PM

Day 1 was pretty exhausting - not really physically but mentally and emotionally. On Saturday I woke up reasonably early (for a Saturday) eager and excited to get the processing and organizing.

Processing

I had started pre-processing on Friday and that helped me feel like I had made a lot of progress. I went through my pre-processed "personal" and "project" bins to more clearly define next actions, waiting for, deferred items, someday/maybe items and projects. Processing also triggered a few other items for processing.

I had some issues with defining "hard edges", specifically with work/personal projects. When this came up I typically defined "work" projects as billable and any questionable "non-billable" items as "personal". Typically they were just items for the Someday/Maybe list but I like the extra classification between personal and work.

The final breakdown:

Lots of personal projects
Lots of work notes and items
Some "to buy" items
Few calendar items
Few "deferred" items
Very few "waiting for" items

The processing only took about 2 hours - again, I think my pre-processing helped this along significantly.

Purchasing

As soon as the office supply store was open the following items were acquired:

Brother Labeler (PT-65) (and extra cartridge)
Extra hanging folders
50 manila folders
12 manila pre-labeled monthly folders
Black 1" binder
Binder separators
Binder ruler/calculator
Binder zip-bag

I am using a large hanging file box and a rolling plastic filing cabinet. Both of these items will be replaced by a nice filing cabinet in the next couple weeks.

Organizing

I'm one of those few people that enjoy sorting and organizing. Part of it is inherited from my mom and the other part is from playing with Legos all during my childhood.

I began by reviewing my "personal" stack. I have been filing things like insurance, legal documentation and other reference/archive materials for many years so this seemed like a natural start. I went through each of the personal items and created necessary folders (from the post-its in pre-processing). Once I made it through that stack I began reviewing the new and old folders. Archive items (insurance, financial stuff, etc) were put in green hanging folders with printed labels. The clear label holders were nice because they didn't require peeling the labels.

Don't hesitate to spend $30 on a labeler. There is no way I would have done this handwritten or trying to print Avery labels. Bite the bullet - it will make you happy.

I ended up trashing quite a bit of old archive stuff which was very cathartic. Projects were put in a manila folder and labeled - prefixed with "P:". Next I dove into the "professional" stack. Items related to client work were set aasideand projects were put into mamanilaP:" folders.

I have colored folders I've been using for clients for a long time so I labeled them and added a couple of new ones created. I went through my stack of "client" items and added them to the client folders. These client folders typically contain project details, notes and ideas so I was a little nervous about losing "next action" items. So, I was looking forward to the list process!

Here is the final breakdown of folder sections:

[rolling filing cabinet] - colored hanging folders: long-term Archive
[rolling filing cabinet] - blue hanging folders: long-term Reference
[filebox] - blue hanging folders: Reference
[filebox] - green hanging folders: Archive
[filebox] - manila folders (prefix: "P:"): Projects
[filebox] - colored folders: Client Folders

I've been using folders and files for a long time but the (obvious) solution of breaking them down into just a couple of groups and being consistent with placement, order and labeling will have a big benefit.

I have 2 plastic tubs that Jenn and I are keeping "house" stuff and "manuals". Eventually these will get integrated into "the system" but for now I have no reservations about their usage.

Once I felt the organization was complete I went through each folder (similar to how I will do a "full review") and made my lists:

Folders - full list of all folders (not sure if/how I'll use this)
Archives - next actions
Clients - next actions
Projects - next actions
To Buy - items to buy sorted by timeframe and store
To Get - items to download/find

In each of the next action lists I added "[HOT]" to those items I labeled important during the processing phase. I also put the next action immediately after the list item.

Here are a couple examples:

Finance
- [HOT] cancel BoA accounts [NA: check for ebills, call State Farm]
- [HOT] cancel platinum visa [NA: find phone number and recent statement]
GTD
- make DIY planner and DIY pocket planner [NA: find examples on web, review templates]

I added my calendar items to my Thunderbird (Lightning) calendar.

The entire organization process took about 4-5 hours (not including breaks for lunch, etc). I found it all extremely cathartic and reinforced my optimism for my GTD implementation.

Next: begin DIY Planner and digital process. Get to some important billable work!

GTD Implementation - Day 1: Prep, Initialization, Pre-processing

John D Brown (johnbrown@smartminion.com) — 5/28/2006 1:31:22 AM

So, over the past 10 days I've been reading David Allen's Getting Things Done. I've been an avid reader of such GTD blogs as LifeHacker, 43Folders and Black Belt Productivity for many months now and finally have the time to read, research, plan and implement a solid GTD system.

The Book

The book was very well organized and easy to read. However, my reading comprehension is not good (I get very easily distracted by projects, deadlines, ideas) so, I spent the last few days doing my own outlining. This really helped me get my head around the content and has helped as I've gone through the Prep and Initialization stages of my system. The folks over at Black Belt Productivity have been compiling a chapter-by-chapter "Primer" which is definitely worth a look for newbies.

Initialization

The goal of this phase was to "get everything in". I found the following items necessary:

GTD Book
GTD notes
Pencils and sharpener
Stacked ruled notebook paper
Phones (to see who is calling - but not answer)
Red marker (for emergency items)
2 plastic bins
Post-it notes
Grape kool-aid (with double sugar)

I cleared my calendar, turned off IM and email notifications (critical) and got to work. In the gathering stage the primary goal was to find all my notes (6 legal pads encompassing a year or so of "stuff"), my "scheming book" (3x5 pocket planner, project folders, stacks of papers, receipts, post-its, etc and dumped everything into an "in" tub.

Once all my items were "in" (took about an hour) I gathered all my tools in a comfortable spot with a stack of ruled notebook paper and pencils in front of me. I wrote down (on a separate page) any item that popped into my head; projects, ideas, milestones, lists, things to do, people to email, EVERYTHING. Once I felt like I was empty I turned to the "trigger list" on p114. This spurred another big run of items for the in box. For each item I put the date on the top right, if it was an urgent (due next week) item I wrote "HOT" in the top middle, on the page header I put some context (ie: "Home - improvement", "Client - billable"), then a quick note about whatever had popped into my head (usually 8-12 words).

In total I collected 45 items over the course of an hour and half. I had expected 60-75 because that's how "full" my head has felt. My emotions were:

Overwhelmed - it's frightening to see such a huge stack of "stuff to do"
Glad - I was happy to have such a list of things "documented" in some fashion, and some I was really looking forward to
Relieved - to have all that stuff out of my head - it really did feel like a huge weight off my shoulders
Encouraged - to get a solid system built for processing this (and everything to come)

Pre-Processing

My last item for day 1 was to do some pre-processing. I knew I had to make a run to the local office supply store for folders and other processing necessities, and I was pretty exhausted and didn't feel quite up to beginning the serious processing phase.

I cranked up SomaFM's Groove Salad stream and began my pre-processing which entailed dumping my "in" pile onto the table in front of me and having 2 plastic bins next to me. I would grab the first item in the stack and add some meta data under the date (to right); things like: "Calendar: June 1", "Project: home". For almost every item I wrote the next action (in some cases multiple actions) at the bottom of the page. I then added a post-it note if I need to create a folder for it. I then placed the item in either the "Personal" or "Work" bin. I was a little surprised to find the "Personal" bin to be 2/3 to 3/4 more than the "Work" bin. I had a very small stack of "less-than-2-minute" items that I put on the table and only 1 "emergency" item.

Pre-processing took about 2 hours with a few short interruptions. I did the emergency item and knocked-out the 2-minute items it short time. This ended the first day's tasks. I felt extremely relieved and excited and Jenn and I enjoyed a wonderful "date" night to celebrate. yee!

Tomorrow: A write-up on my day of processing and the (near-completion) of the analog part of my GTD system...

Welcome!

John D Brown (johnbrown@smartminion.com) — 5/26/2006 4:50:21 PM

Howdy Visitor!

I don't know how you got here but I hope you stumble across something interesting, funny, insightful and/or clever.

There is a brief introduction to me over in the sidebar - if you'd like to learn more you can visit the About John section.

Although I've posted items to my various sites in the past I've never really started a blog because I didn't have much to provide for an audience - my prior fixation with politics was really only just an outlet for me. However, in the next few weeks I'll be putting together and documenting my Getting Things Done (GTD) system and processes. My early research and prep already has me excited and I think I can provide some good tips and techniques for other self-employed, GSD-type, techno-geek visitors.

Here you will find my thoughts, projects, information about:

Getting Things Done
Web design and development
Self-employment / entrepreneurialism
Useful software

At times I also may need to share some things I find insightful, funny, rage-inducing, etc.

...so, enjoy your visit and contact me anytime! Upcoming posts will focus on my research and prep for GTD.