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Simplified GTD in GMail

Published on 20/02/07
by willpate

I’m a fan of the Getting Things Done working methodology, but like all processes I prefer my own simplified and slimmed down version. I also use Gmail for all my email. I love the interface, and when your first name is a dictionary word like mine is, you really need some great spam filtering.

There is already a Firefox extension for folks that want to be quite advanced about it, but if you’re just looking for a simplified version here’s how I do it.

  • starred – reply asap, does not require an action that will take over two minutes

I use labels to collect emails by project and set statuses of conversations

  • @action – reply, requires an action that will take over two minutes
  • @wait – awaiting reply, sifted through once a week
  • ideas – blog posts, thoughts, quotables
  • life – in no way related to work
  • Then add one label per project.

I then use a series of filters to handle stuff like:

  • Applying labels of projects based on the email addresses they are addressed to, where they came from, subject line and keyword.
  • Automatically archive some of those auto-labeled emails, while leaving them unread. This takes them out of the main window but increases the unread count on that label and makes it more like a traditional email folder.
  • Setting some to starred right away. Some folks almost always need to be replied to asap

tags: gtd, gmail

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