Vermont Nonprofit CommunIT

Toolbox + Workflow = GTD

I suppose everyone gets those proverbial late night wild hairs every once in awhile and I'm no exception.  Around 11:00PM last night I decided it was time to finally do some work flow diagramming; taking my toolbox list and laying out how I use them to Get Things Done (GTD). Truth be told, I love doing this sort of stuff. Yes...as I've admitted before, simply playing with tech toys is high on my list, but the process of laying out my workflow has in fact helped me tighten up some workflow gaps and push me to better utilize the tools I use. I highly recommend it to everyone. A special tip of the hat to Michael Gilbert for the kick in the butt.

Caveat: I make a lot of assumptions here about the reader's knowledge of many of the applications I describe.

Interface
First and foremost, I have consolidated all of my workflow processes to be accessed via the Firefox browser.  I have set my default homepage to open 5 different tabs every time I open Firefox: Gmail, Newsgator, Salesforce, Basecamp and Backpack.

Information Aggregation
I use two primary buckets to collect information: Newsgator and Gmail. Newsgator aggregates all my RSS feeds from news sources, blogs, Del.icio.us and search feeds (like PubSub). As for email, I forward all my accounts (personal, work, listservs, blog comments/pings) to my Gmail account.  I use different filters in Gmail to view different sources of information while routing all listserv emails to the archives so as not to clog my inbox. Honestly, its taken me awhile to get out of Outlook thinking and use Gmail effectively...some Greasemonkey plugins have helped.

1. Personal GTD - Bloginess
In Newsgator, if I find an  posting of particular interest, I do one of two things: I clip it to a folder which streams it to a feed in the left hand column of this blog called Read List. Or if I potentially want to write about it, I use the email function of Newsgator to send it to the Blogging List in my Backpack account.  Each category in Backpack has an email address that allows you to collect emails under a task list. Even though the email address is fairly cryptic, Firefox remembers the address when I put in a key letter. In Backpack, I look over the postings I emailed myself and create "would like to blog" lists and notes from there.

2. Personal GTD - Consulting, Family, Misc
Essentially I do the same thing in Gmail I do with Newsgator.  If I receive an email in which I need to take action (for either consulting work I do on the side or a family matter), I forward that email on to my Backpack account and manage it as a task.  Although, sometimes I go right to the list and create a task and reminder for myself.

3&4. Workflow/Project Management
I have set up a Basecamp account to project manage all the different aspects of my job: IT Admin, dB Admin, Website Admin and Program Development.  If one of my work colleagues needs me to do something or has a request, they post a message to Basecamp (which is accessed through a Salesforce tab...integrating it into an existing interface).  Basecamp creates an archive of those messages (much like a blog) and I get emailed the message.  I then comment on the message (when I can do it, or requesting more information) and add it to my task list for that project.  I will associate a milestone for the task if applicable.

5. Project Oversight
Additionally, I oversee the office manager's (who I supervise) workflow using Basecamp.  I don't get emailed/CC'd on all the tasks that are asked of her. Luckily, Basecamp provides an RSS feed;  I use the Firefox plugin Sage to give me a quick glance at all the communication, task management and benchmark date completions that occur.  I also do this through the Basecamp interface...I just like the redundancy in case I miss anything.

6&7. Task and Event Aggregation
Both Backback and Basecamp use iCal subscription services (and I really wish Salesforce did too).  In Mozilla Calendar (another Firefox plugin), I have subscribed to those iCal feeds and now have a snapshot off all my events and tasks, including a few local calendars and an additional Backpack subscription from our web designers account...all in one calendar.  Therefore, when a project is updated in Basecamp, it is reflected in my Calendar as well, where I can see right away if there is a scheduling conflict.  I primarily use Backpack and Basecamp to manage tasks and workflow, but the Calendar is a great way to see everything in one succinct place.

Conclusion
As you can see, there are some great points of workflow integration between these tools, but also some effortless layers of redundancy that help me manage tasks regardless of which tool i'm using (Salesforce, Basecamp, Mozilla Calendar).  I would love know what people think of this madness and hopefully inspire you do the same sort of workflow diagram and outline.

Bloggish Transcendence

Stop talking more about the definition and start talking more about the practice--Marnie Webb

Never one to let go of something very easily, I'm still chewing on the Blog v. Web conversations of several weeks back. James Farmer at Blogsavvy is fueling my fire by asking "Why on earth would you want a website?"  His argument gives a more tech-side perspective of the benefits of using blogging applications vs. conventional web development.

However, it is in a previous post, that James elegantly captures my sentiments and gets my gears-a-turning:

...the future of blogs may have very little to do with the use of blogs as we know them now. The future of blogs may well be as the core, centred elements that make up our infospheres, the fact that they are tools for interaction, private reflection, identity, and collaboration [are] purely incidental to the integral part they will play in our everyday online existence.

Absent (or perhaps not explicit) from the concept of infoshperes is that blogs (or behaving bloggishly) allows the web to transcend the practice of Storytelling into Networked/Viral Conversations.

From this point of view, the practice of blogging has tremendous value for nonprofits. Blogs provide the opportunity to create a seamless loop of engagement and feedback between an organization and its constituents:  Constituents are connected with the mission of the organization through its storytelling (hopefully by those served by the mission) while it creates a virtual feedback (and yes...criticism) hotline for the organization.

As most people become more savvy at filtering and focusing the information coming into their infosphere, it becomes more important for nonprofits to behave bloggishly; for the implications extend far beyond online interactions.  The competition  between nonprofits for the wallet-share of donors will continue to intensify and both online and systemic organizational bloggish behavior --Transparency, Inclusion, Engagement, Networking --will give those nonprofits an edge to be in their constituents infosphere...as well as their givingsphere.

Too many Javascripts?

I assume most people who read this blog on a consistent basis read it in their aggregator. If you do venture to the site on occasion, let me know if you are having troubles loading the site; the addition of multiple javascripts to stream my feeds are creating issues loading pages.  Thanks....

The Farmer's Partner

When I tried my hand at getting an undergraduate degree for the second time, my plan was to become a horticulturist/organic farmer.  Theater and the other end of the food production cycle (restaurants) lured me away from such a fate, but I get to live vicariously by being the partner of an organic farmer.

That said, occasional my work, my home life and my politics converge: My friend Lydia sent me a link to her friend's Maggie Suisman's website of her artwork on Factory Farms. Beautiful, poignant and sharp; much like Vermont and it's politics.