Thoughts on Productivity with Matthew Cornell

“I teach people a simple method to manage the overwhelming volume of “stuff” inundating their lives in order to release and focus their natural talents. The result is typically a relaxed sense of control and a significant freeing up of energy and creativity.”

This is the description you’ll find of Matthew Cornell on his personal website. With a career that includes stops at NASA and the University of Massachusetts of Amherst and as someone who eats/sleeps/breaths productivity for a living, Matthew has the cred to speak volumes on this subject. He’s been kind enough to share exactly how he manages the onslaught of input, information and tasks that come his way.

A little description of my productivity setup:

My productivity setup and process is quite recognizable to fans of GTD, with a few enhancements and simplifications. I describe it next in these sections:

Chris asked me:

  • What’s your office setup like?
  • Anything about it you’d like to change?
  • Any tips or tricks to share?


Capture

For making notes during meetings or phone calls, I use a legal pad. I have one I carry in my briefcase, and one on my desk by the phone. Importantly, when I’m done taking notes I simply staple the pages then toss them into my paper inbox (top shelf of my desktop stacking shelves). If I’m away from my office I file them in my portable Inbox folder, which I empty daily into my desktop Inbox. I do the same with incoming postal mail, transferring it from the house mail slots by the front door (the equivalent of your mail slot at work). For more detail, see my post Dealing With Meeting Notes - GTD To The Rescue!.

For on-the-go capture I carry a small paper notebook with a pen stuck through the spirals. As thoughts, ideas, and bits-and-pieces come to me (such as a good book to read, or contact information for someone I’ve met at a conference or workshop) I pop it out, make a quick note, then move on. I love the peace of mind that comes from knowing these important thoughts won’t get lost. After all, the main point of practicing such a system is to make mental space to HAVE these ideas! It’d be a waste not to record them. Again, these go into my desktop inbox for processing into real work.

Night-time capture is an important part of keeping your brain unfettered by those running-through-your-head thoughts that can keep you from falling asleep. As I wrote on insomnia in A Few Thoughts On Capture, I like to have fun with it:

I give my one-on-one clients a Super Spy Night Pen for capture at night - not only is it a fun novelty, but I’ve found doing a mini brain dump really helps if thoughts are keeping you from getting to sleep.

(And yes, I’ve seen NASA engineers almost get into a fight over the ones I give out as prizes in workshops)

Email capture is automatic, of course, though we sometimes forget that the inbox is used for one thing: COLLECTING NEW MESSAGES! When I talk about this in my workshops, I run a short exercise where people call out ways they use their inboxes. We come up with a bunch of contraindicated applications including to-dos, might-want-to-dos, contact information, to-read, reference, and delegation reminders. In other words, every possible organizing bucket. There are very sound reasons for pulling them out into separate lists.

On the processing front, I empty out my voicemail (two accounts, again also automatic capture) within an hour after calls. This response time is because it’s my policy to prioritize calls over emails and paper. In addition to my one hour voice response time I have a 36 hour email one, and a 3-5 day paper one.


Tools

Other than the capture tools above, I’m digital at this point (I switched from paper calendar and lists last year - Tool Update: Matt Goes Digital! Plus A Few Mac Productivity Lessons). I use a iCal for calendar and tasks, with the latter implemented via separate calendars for my contexts. I keep contexts simple (remember, they’re entirely optional), with the current set being Actions, Errands, Waiting For, and Projects.

My iPhone, like any smartphone, is not good for capture or doing solid project work. It’s primarily a tool for communication (calls and short email messages and responses), navigation (maps, GPS), and reference (Internet). And yes, I confess, a bit of Twittering )

The iPhone syncs with my desktop’s iCal and built-in Address Book app. I don’t sync tasks (actually, Apple doesn’t sync tasks, which makes no sense), but it’s not a problem; most of my work is done on my laptop, and the only things I need when heading out is my errands list, which I copy onto paper.


Workflow

Daily I process the incoming stuff mentioned above - the crucial activity that turns incoming items into actual, workable chunks. It’s very GTD-ish, with the exception of no tickler (I use a Calendar + Waiting File method instead), and my use of daily planning to avoid action paralysis. (A Daily Planning Experiment: Two Weeks Of Accountable Rigorous Action describes it more fully.) I practice a more organic type of weekly review, partly every day while creating my plan (scan projects, weed actions, look forward and back in the calendar), with a heavier review as needed. Similarly, I do detailed project planning and analysis when I feel the need for it. While this doesn’t fit the “If you’re not doing the weekly review, you’re not doing GTD” thought, it works well for me.

Reading is crucial to staying on top of our jobs, but it’s the first thing that goes out the window when we’re overloaded. So we need to create structure around feeding the brain with a steady die of juicy morsels. I have a separate inbox of reading (”To Read”) that I carry with me. This is usually 1-2 dozen articles I’ve printed, plus one of the books I currently have going (anywhere from 1-5). Likewise I have a separate inbox of reading notes to process. I carve out time every day or so to work on both - reading, thinking, creating notes, and entering them into my idea tracking system. (You do have one, right? Even a simple text file can be adequate.)

(Side note: For capturing notes while reading, I’ve gone through several iterations, including outsourcing transcription of dictated notes - see The 4-hour Workweek Applied: How I Spent $100, Saved Hours, And Boosted My Reading Workflow. I now use hand-written notes and a simple indexing scheme. See How To Read A Lot Of Books In A Short Time for more details.)


Desk Layout, Filing

I have an “L” shaped desk layout with two filing cabinets at arms length (three full-length filing drawers, plus two smaller utility drawers). On my desk are my stacking shelves (Inbox, Financial Waiting For, Action Support, and Current Projects), rotating desk organizer (pens, paper clips, etc), labeler, stapler, lamp, phone, and legal pad. My computer goes on the L’s “return,” with extra room for my printer. Underneath are trash and paper recycling bins. Oh, and a nice chair (bought used!) For archival filing I have a large four-drawer filing cabinet in a corner. This contains files like taxes and permanent records that I need to keep, but don’t need at hand. For more, along with pictures, check out Five Secret Filing Hacks From The Masters.


Portability

Portability is important, both to be able to work while away, and to make sure you have all you need when you’re travelling. I carry:

  • Required project folders,
  • Calendar,
  • To Read folder,
  • Action Support folder (for in-process paper that doesn’t have dedicated folders),
  • Capture notebook,
  • Inbox folder,
  • Contacts, maps, etc. are on my iPhone, which syncs with my desktop.


Challenges

My system works really well. GTD-like systems in general have built-in challenges (I wrote about some of them in 10 GTD “holes” (and How To Plug Them)), but for the most part mine are around how I work it. A few examples:

  • Emptying paper: I’ve been bitten by not emptying this daily more than once, and it has costs each time.
  • Not working from actions list: Working reactively is still a risk. The daily plan counters this, mostly.
  • Procrastinating: I’m like everyone else - I put stuff off, and it bothers me. Check out Procrastinating Again? How to Kick the Habit if you’re interested.
  • Discipline: Again, a relatively universal challenge. Check out Tighten Your Belt, Strengthen Your Mind for more on will power.

Cheers!