How to master Outlook
Posted on 11 Mar 2009 at 16:03
Tim Danton explains how to avoid becoming a slave to outlook and use it as the organisational tool it was meant to be.
This feature is for anyone who's finished a working day with the horrible sense of dissatisfaction that things didn't go to plan, that you've been ineffective. That you just didn't do all the things you wanted to.
Because we face a problem. Never mind the credit crunch, most of us are faced with a time crunch each and every working day. We're bombarded with phone calls, meetings, voicemails, bosses giving us urgent last-minute tasks, and that most demanding of mistresses: emails.
While technology has theoretically made dealing with our workload easier, many people feel the opposite is true. Indeed, a survey by webmail provider GMX showed that 41% of Britons felt pangs of guilt and anxiety due to the weight of email they receive.
It isn't within our power to remove email from the world - that Pandora's Box is wedged open - but you can take control. Technology should be an aid, and in this article we're going to show you how to master Outlook (or whatever personal email/organisational tool you use), so that you never have to leave work feeling ineffective again.
Read '10 steps to mastering Outlook'
Read the review of David Allen's 'Getting things done Outlook add-in'
Getting things done
Even the most disorganised person can be turned into someone less so by forcing them to use a daily to-do list, but according to productivity gurus such as David Allen (author of Getting Things Done, also known simply as GTD) and Sally McGhee (author of Take Control of Your Life!), that isn't enough. If there ever was a time when a daily list of tasks was practical then it's long-passed: our working days are too unpredictable.
To make sense of our workloads, Allen and McGhee argue we need more sophisticated thinking and smarter tools. We need a system that actually welcomes the unexpected, because the email that slips into your inbox demanding immediate attention could be what earns you your next promotion.
"The real power of GTD is having an extended mind, in that you're using the system as a placeholder for open loops and incomplete stuff you need to keep track of," Allen told us in an interview (see www.pcpro.co.uk/links/174email1 for the full transcript). "If you're trying to use your head for that then good luck."
Although everyone will use a slightly different system, this boils down to prioritisation. There are tasks you will have to do today; there are others that can only be done next Friday, when everyone's in the office; and there are others that are best left to tomorrow morning when you'll feel fresher than right now, slowly digesting your lunch.
We also need to stamp out time leeches. In the majority of cases, there's no good reason to read an email twice. Much of the time, you'll be able to deal with it immediately, and this is one of the central tenets behind GTD.
Empty your inbox
The first thing to consider is working with an empty inbox. This concept is heresy to some people: they'll protest that the 7,000 emails that sit in their inbox might look messy, but at least everything is there. A simple search, or filtering by subject or name, will take them to the information they need.
advertisement
- Kindle update brings native PDF support
- Lenovo launches first ever ThinkCentre all-in-one PC
- Average mobile broadband speed only 0.87Mbits/sec
- iPhone hitting Tesco in time for Christmas
- Gmail adds offline attachments
- Mobile data surges up by 16% in October
- OFT: Google isn't harming consumers
- £90 million buys South Yorkshire 25Mbits/sec broadband
- Twitter ready to splash out... and run ads
- LogMeIn Express offers fuss-free screen sharing
- Need a bit of extra Christmas cash? Grass up your boss, says BSA
- Photoshop Mobile on Android review: first look
- ATI Radeon HD 5970: 42% more expensive in the UK
- Office 2010 Beta – 32-bit or 64-bit – The Choice is Clear
- Why Britain's watchdogs have fewer teeth than goldfish
- Tabbed documents: how to make Office 2010 great
- Outlook 2010 People Pane – does it spell death to Xobni
- Microsoft Outlook 2010 screenshots
- Co-Authoring in Word 2010 and SharePoint Foundation 2010
- Microsoft Outlook 2010 screenshots: Backstage view
- Getting to grips with Microsoft's IT Health Environment Scanner
- Virtualise your servers
- The changing face of travel gadgets
- Build your own distributed file system
- The bulletproof Dell that costs an arm and a leg
- Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview: Q&A
- Lawnmowers, the TyTN II and one odd insurance request
- There'll never be a bulletproof OS
- How far can we trust apps?
- Five nice touches in Outlook 2010
advertisement
Printed from www.pcpro.co.uk


