by Adam Pash
Last week's How I Work series gave an insight into how several of Lifehacker's favorite productivity gurus get things done in their daily work. Matt Haughey (MetaFilter), Brad Isaac (Achieve-IT!), Steve Pavlina (StevePavlina.com), Merlin Mann (43Folders), and Phillip Torrone (MAKE) gave us detailed accounts of how they work, letting us in on what web sites, software, and organizing systems they use to get things done.
Today, to round out the How I Work series, Gina, Keith and I have answered the same three questions. Check out how we work (and let us know how you work) after the jump.
How Gina Works:
What desktop software do you use every day?
On my Mac and PC, I launch three things first thing: the Dynamic Mozilla Duo - Firefox and Thunderbird (for email), and a terminal window (Cygwin on Windows, iTerm on the Mac.)
What web sites do you use every day?
As much as I hate to admit it (that whole all your eggs in one basket problem), like most people who live on the Web, I'd be lost without the mighty Google search box. Also, Gmail deals with email to my public internet personas (amazing spam filtering), and inevitably I wander off into a sea of images on Flickr at least once a day as well.
What PDA/personal organizer/system do you use to keep organized?
I work from home, so my needs aren't very complicated, and neither is my system. My partner's and my appointments and events go on the magnetic whiteboard calendar on the fridge. I've always got a short stack of index cards in my back pocket and a pen to capture ideas on the go. Sometimes I carry a thin spiral notebook to draft articles, doodle and make lists. I keep a plain text file of my to do list on my server, and my Yahoo calendar emails me on certain days of the month to remind me of recurring tasks. (I'm considering moving that over to the new Google Calendar.)
Other than that, I'm slowly incorporating aspects of David Allen's Getting Things Done system into my life. I've got an inbox for mail and other paperwork, a filing cabinet I maintain closely for reference materials, and a someday/maybe list. I do fairly regular reviews of where I am on projects, and I'm working now on making that a weekly occurrence.
I stay away from digital PDAs and gadgets like the Treo, Palm or Blackberry, because mobile toys distract me and keep me out of the moment when I'm out and about. Who wants to be hunched over a PDA typing when you're out to dinner or watching the sunset? Not me. (Though I have been known to do that with my cameraphone, and I'm
trying to stop!)
How Keith Works:
What desktop software do you use every day?
In a typical day I'll use:
Photoshop
Mail (of course)
Firefox
Omni Outliner (for KGTD and for simple outlining)
Textmate or SubEthaEdit
FontExplorerX
iCal
Transmit
iChat (Jabber with my coworkers)
Quicksilver
Pages
InDesign
What web sites do you use every day?
Blue Flavor's Basecamp
Lifehacker's Movable Type install and the Lifehacker Wiki
Flickr.com
Digg
Various blogs. I tend to get my reading done through other's blogrolls as opposed to RSS which I find too distracting most of the time.
What PDA/personal organizer/system do you use to keep organized?
As far as a device goes...Well most of this is done on my Powerbook, but I do have a Treo that I use for phone calls and the occasional memo.
As far as a system goes, I use a modified GTD system. I've got Kinkless GTD set up and I rely on that and iCal quite a bit, but I also make use of Mail because I tend to spend a good bit of my day in there and it requires the most management.
I guess a typical day for me starts with e-mail. I tend to go through that first thing. I also try and line up a few posts for Lifehacker. I like to get as much of that taken care of before I head into the office. Once my day starts it really depends on what I've got on my plate. Some days I'll have meetings, some days I'll be able to spend the whole day head down doing "real work."
I tend to try and avoid interruption during my day. This means turning off e-mail for hours at a time while I'm working on a design, or setting aside time to brainstorm. Ironically the biggest distraction for me is Lifehacker as I have to spend time online surfing and digging through reader tips to find good stuff if I've not knocked that out in the morning.
All of this amounts to more productive afternoons and evenings, and that's when I usually do my best work. Sometimes I'll leave the office and head home early to make sure I'm distraction free.
How Adam Works:
What desktop software do you use every day?
Aside from Firefox, there isn't really all that much I need on my desktop anymore. I use SnagIt everyday for screenshots, Notepad2 for most of my text editing, and Winamp for music.
What web sites do you use every day?
The Google triumvirate of search, Gmail, and Gcal pretty much rule my life right now (scary, I know). I like to keep my eye on Digg and del.icio.us for any saucy links I haven't checked out, and, of course, I also spend a lot of time on this cool young web site called Lifehacker.
What PDA/personal organizer/system do you use to keep organized?
I actually have very simple needs in the organizer department, and as much as I would love a snappy PocketPC, I still haven't been able to justify it. I work from home, so I rarely have a real need for anything that goes in my pocket. I keep a bundle of notecards with me on the off chance I decide to hit the streets, and they do come in very handy for capturing information and ideas on the go.
Despite the proliferation of great bookmarking tools available, I still capture a lot of information on the web with my Gmail bookmarking system, and since Gcal has shown up on the scene, I've been working on integrating it into my system. So far the Quick add and Google Calendar notifier extensions for Firefox have been really instrumental in this process.
Thanks again to everyone who participated in our How I Work series. If you missed any along the way, be sure to check out our How I Work tag.
Now it's your turn: Let us know what software, web sites, and PDA/organization system you use in the comments, or send an email to tips at lifehacker.com.
Adam Pash is an associate editor for Lifehacker who is always impressed by more productive people's personal work habits. His special feature Hack Attack appears every Tuesday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Hack Attack RSS feed to get new installments in your newsreader.