Dermot Crowley
dermot.crowley@adaptproductivity.com.au
0402 981 015
Session 1
Welcome to the first of two webinars designed to help you to manage
your time, priorities and emails using MS Outlook and OneNote.
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Smart Work Full Day Slides and Notes
© Adapt Productivity 2021
Dermot is a productivity thought-leader, has been running Adapt
Productivity for going on 20 years, and is the author of Smart Work,
Smart Teams and Urgent! Feel free to reach out at any time on
dermot.crowley@adaptproductivity.com.au.
Smart Work Full Day Slides and Notes
2© Adapt Productivity 2021
www.adaptresources.com.au
Password: zerohero
Access the following:
- Set-up guide
- Outlook Technical Guide
- Course handouts
- Outlook tutorials
Online Resources
Access a range of handouts, tools, guides and tutorials on the website
above.
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Quantity
Getting more done in the time available
Quality
Doing the work to the appropriate level of quality
Efficiency
Getting things done with the least amount of effort or friction
Effectiveness
Getting the right things done (and filtering out the wrong things)
Balance
Doing all of this in a balanced way that supports wellbeing
Productivity is not just about getting more done. A true increase of
productivity incorporates quantity, quality, efficiency, effectiveness and
balance. This program strives to give you a productivity boost in a holistic
and sustainable way.
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1
hour per day
2
days per month
1
month per year
Based on research done with thousands of our past participants, we
reckon you will get back about an hour per day of more productive time
if you implement the Smart Work system. That equates to 2 days per
month, which in turn equates to a month per year of working days. That
is a fantastic return on your investment of 4 hours, don’t you think?
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Smart Work System
You need to consider three things if you want to boost your productivity.
1. How you manage your Actions. The systems and strategies that you use to
manage your schedule and priorities will dictate whether you feel in control or
out of control, work proactively or reactively, or get bogged down in low value
work or gain momentum with your real priorities.
2. How you manage your Inputs. The flow of incoming emails, interruptions,
paperwork, meeting actions, phone calls and mind-clutter needs to be tamed
if you want to stay focused and on target. You need to give special focus to
your Inbox and how you manage your emails.
3. How you manage your Outcomes. For us, this is the real point. We need to
ensure that the bulk of our time, energy and focus is on what really matters.
Finally, we need to build the three key habits of Processing, Planning and
Prioritising. These habits drive the system and ensure you are making productive
decisions about how you spend your time.
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- Consolidate your Work
- Schedule it Forward
- Focus your Day
Centralise your Actions
We cover three key principles around Action Management.
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Review debtors list
Book weekend away
Finish whitepaper
Email team re agenda
Call John Grange
Update project timelines
Respond to Grant
Email report to BASF
Finalise slides for NAB
Fixed Work
(Meetings & Appointments)
Flexible Work
(Tasks & Priorities)
You have two types of actions that you need to manage. You Meetings
are what we call Fixed work, and are activities that need to happen at a
specific time. This is usually because others are involved in this
synchronous activity, and we all need to do the activity at the same time.
You Flexible work are the tasks and priorities that you can do anytime
you want to do them. They may have a fixed deadline, but they can be
done in a flexible and discretionary way.
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What tools do you use?
Have a think about the tools you currently use to manage your actions.
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Meeting Tools Task Tools
Most people have one central tool they use to manage their meetings.
But when it comes to their tasks, there are usually multiple tools at play.
This leads to fragmented work, an inability to prioritise effectively, and a
lack of time-management around this important work.
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One Centralised System
Meetings
Fixed-time Commitments
Priorities
Discretionary Tasks
The key to managing actions effectively is to bring both your meeting
and task workload into the one place. We believe the calendar/task view
in MS Outlook is the best tool for the job.
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A Centralised Action System
The daily Plan view is the first of two views we recommend for managing
your actions in Outlook. Your Outlook set-up guide will have walked you
through the steps required to set this up.
This view is all about focus, and should become the main view you use
when in Outlook. It should be focused in on today, and should show you
your meetings for today, as well as the priorities you have scheduled for
today.
Notice that tasks scheduled for future dates show up here as well, but all
of those task groups have been closed, and only todays group is open
and visible. Also note that the High priorities for the day show as a
different colour. This helps you to focus on the must-do priorities that are
most important for the day.
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Outlook Views
Daily Plan View - Focus
Weekly Workflow View - Perspective
A second view we recommend using is the Weekly Workflow view. This
can be accessed by going to the Work Week view in the calendar, and
opening the Daily Task List at the bottom of the calendar. This view is
great for planning and organising your time and priorities, and gives you
some perspective.
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Scheduling Tasks
Assign Task
Recurring Task
Categorize Task
When scheduling a task, the key fields to fill out are the Subject, the
Start Date, and the Priority.
You can also do more advanced things like Assign Tasks to others, set
Recurring Tasks and add categories to Tasks.
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Email
Calendar Tasks
Email Actions
Your Action management system becomes even more powerful when
you link it to your Inbox. Like it or not, your Inbox drives a certain
amount of your activities. Doesn't it make sense to turn emails into Tasks
or Appointments so that you manage these actions within the context of
your available time and your other priorities?
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• Action Emails
• Paperwork
• Phone calls
• Meeting actions
• Mind Clutter
Centralise every action
If you are going to use the task system in Outlook, commit fully to it and
schedule every action into it.
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Schedule work forward
Don’t just schedule all of your tasks for Today. Use the resource of time
in front of you to proactively schedule your actions for the appropriate
day/week/month.
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Avoid Task Stacking
If you do not complete a task today, it will roll forward to the next day so
you don’t forget it. This is good and bad at the same time. The trap can
be that your task list begins to stack and becomes unfocused.
Remember, if you want it to keep you focused, you need to keep it
focused!
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Preview
Add
Subtract
Sequence
Daily PASS
Invest 10 minutes each morning to focus your day using the PASS
process. Preview what you have in your schedule and in your list. Add
anything else that might need your attention. Subtract any tasks that are
not a priority or achievable today. Then sequence your task list from
MOST important to LEAST important.
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- Keep it Simple
- Reduce the Noise
- Process to Zero
Organise your Inputs
We will now start to unpack the three principles behind effective Inputs
Management.
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Zero Hero Clarity
Screen Saver Control
Spring Cleaner Confusion
Hoarder Chaos
0
10’s
100’s
1000’s
These are the four types of Inbox user.
The Hoarders tend to keep thousands of emails in their Inbox and are
most at risk of things slipping through the cracks, or work becoming
urgent before being dealt with.
The Spring Cleaners have a set point of a couple of hundred emails, and
try to get on top once or twice a year. Their Inbox can cause them
confusion.
The Screen Savers feel organised when they can get their emails down to
one screen. Scrolling causes them stress.
The Zero Hero's are the most productive in my opinion because they are
in control, and have perfect clarity about what needs action and what
does not.
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Keep it Simple
If you are going to keep emails for reference, don’t keep them in your
Inbox. And if you are going to use filing folders, keep it simple.
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Compact
58
Seconds to
find an email
Complex
17
Seconds to
find an email
Complex filing systems slow you down when you are filing emails. A Compact filing
system of one filing folder is much quicker to file into. And research shows is
actually faster to find things in if you know how to use search.
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Travel
Feedback
Suppliers
HR Issues
Miscellaneous
Web Project
HPW Coaching
Research
Marketing
Invoicing
Compact
Condensed
Complex
Ten folders or less
If you really feel the need to use filing folders, or advice is to use a
Condensed filing system of 10 folders or less.
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Advanced Search
Use the Refine search toolbar in outlook to do targeted searches for the
emails you need to find. You can refine by person, subject, attachments,
body and you can even search within attachments using the Attachment
Contains option.
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Let’s talk
about
OneNote
OneNote is a powerful note taking tool that has been around since 2012 but is
still not used half as much as it should be.
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Great Superhero Partnerships
Batman & Robin
Wallace & Gromit
Outlook & OneNote
OneNote and Outlook are a dynamic duo when it comes to managing your
time, priorities and information.
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COMMUNICATE
CONGREGATE
COLLABORATE
Projects
Processes
Problems
Each one of you
have multiple
complex pieces
of work that you
are working on
at any one time.
We all have complex work to manage and collaborate on, as well as our day-
to-day activities. This more complex work might take the form of projects,
processes or problems. OneNote is the perfect tool to manage the associated
information.
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Many sources of information
Emails & attachments
Web pages
Documents
Meeting notes
Audio & Video
Much of the information that we need to deliver on our projects, processes
and problems comes in electronic formats. It makes sense to use an electronic
tool like OneNote to organise this information in a meaning way.
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Different OneNote versions
Office 365 Web version
Windows 10 version
Mobile version (Phone or tablet)
Desktop version
There are different versions of OneNote, which can be used in different
situations. There is a web version, a tablet PC version , and a mobile version.
All of these versions have limited functionality as they are light versions of the
tool. The best version of OneNote to use is the OneNote Desktop app, which
should look similar to the image in this slide.
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OneNote Views
Default OneNote set-up
Adapt Recommended set-up
By default, OneNote closes the Notebook pane on the left. We recommend
opening this permanently, as well as opening the Ribbon Toolbar so that all
functions are visible to you.
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Remember to DO…
Capture this in
Outlook
Remember to DISCUSS…
Capture this in
OneNote
Calendar or Task List
1:1 Discussion List
Meeting Agenda
or
When you need top remember to do something, you should capture this in
Outlook as a Task or Appointment. If you need to remember to discuss
something with one of your team or your manager, you should capture this in
OneNote in a meeting agenda or a 1:1 discussion item.
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- Keep it Simple
- Reduce the Noise
- Process to Zero
Advanced Input Strategies
We will now explore some advanced Input Management strategies.
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Zero Hero Clarity
Screen Saver Control
Spring Cleaner Confusion
Hoarder Chaos
0
10’s
100’s
1000’s
We believe that the most productive people are what we call Zero heros, and
they aim to get their Inbox to zero at least once per week.
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Dial down the Noise
If you are receiving more than about 50 emails per day, there is a risk that you
are getting to much noise, and this noise gets in the way of the signal that you
need to stay on top of.
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RESPONSE
ACTION
RELEVANT
IRRELEVANT
EXTERNAL
INTERNAL
NOISESIGNAL
1. ACTIONABLE
2. INFORMATIONAL
3. QUESTIONABLE
We receive three types of email into our Inboxes. Actionable emails require
our response or for us to do an action. These are our most critical emails.
Informational emails carry information to us, not actions, and some are
relevant, and some are irrelevant. Finally, questionable emails are things like
spam, which are externally driven, and sometimes internally driven emails like
CCs and Reply All Conversions.
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© Adapt Productivity 2021
Noise reduction tools
We can reduce the noise by using the following functions in Outlook:
1. Automatically delete unwanted emails using the Junk tool
2. Clean up conversations using the Clean Up tool
3. Set up Rules to move informational emails to ‘batching’ folders
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Just DDDDecide
When you spend time processing emails, every email can be dealt with using
one of four decisions.
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Do it
NOW!
Dump Divert
Negotiate
Delegate
File
Delete
Decide When
Calendar
Task
Do it Now
Respond
Action
Is any action
needed?
YES
NO
Is it a good use
of my time?
YES
NO
Does it need
my immediate
attention?
YES
NO
Filter Out
Filter In
Email Actions Filter
Dump the email if there is no action needed
Divert it if it is not a good use of your time
Decide when if it is, but not urgent
Do it now if it is quick or urgent
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Just Press Buttons
If you need to RESPOND to it
If you need to ACTION it
If you need to DELETE it
If you need to FILE it
Setting up a bespoke Quicksteps toolbar can help you to execute the 4D
decisions efficiently.
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The Mount Rushmore Approach
If you have a large backlog of emails in your Inbox, and want to get to zero
quickly, use the Mount Rushmore approach:
1. Dynamite – Move everything older than 1 month into your filing folder
2. Sledgehammer – Sort what is left by the ‘From’ field and delete or file
whole groups of emails
3. Run what is left through the 4Ds
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When
will you
get to
Zero?
Commit to getting to zero as soon after the workshop as possible. Schedule
some time to do it this week.
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- Identify your Value
- Make time to Plan
- Fight for Importance
Realise your Outcomes
The final circle in the Smart Work Venn focuses on your Outcomes. This
section is all about how we can spend more of our time, energy and focus on
the things that really matter.
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Filtering Scheduling Sequencing
Decision
Yes
--- or ---
No
Now
--- or ---
Later
First
--- or ---
Last
Focus
Importance Proactivity Execution
Outcome
Right Work Right Time Right Order
Prioritas – ‘Existing or coming before in time, order or importance’
We can prioritise in three ways. We can filter out low value work and filter in
the high value work. We can use time to plan and manage our priorities
proactively, and we can rank or sequence our work from most important to
least important.
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Rule of 3
Knowing what is important brings Clarity.
Knowing what is most important brings Conviction.
Identify your top 3 in every list
- Monthly priorities
- Daily task list
- Project plans
- Meeting agenda items
- 1:1 discussion lists
Sequencing a task list from most important to least important helps to give
you conviction around your priorities. You are more likely to fight for them.
Identifying the top three priorities in any list is a really good discipline as it
helps you to be super focused on what is most important.
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Recommended Reading
A book worth reading if you want to spend more time doing the work that has
real impact.
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GREAT Work
Planning
GOOD Work
BAD Work
Prioritisation
Keeping busy
Doing our job
Having an impact
Do more GREAT work
Prioritisation gets you from bad to good. Planning gets you from good to
great. We need to protect time to plan and think if we want to spend more
time on what is important.
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Monthly Top 10
Weekly ROAR
Daily
PASS
1 Hour
45 Mins
10 Mins
Perspective
Traction
Focus
Big Picture Plans
(Yearly, Quarterly)
Organisational
Personal
Alignment1 Day +
Many teams work on big picture plans that create alignment across the team.
But there can be a disconnect between those big picture objectives and what
we doing on a day-to-day basis. Daily, weekly and monthly personal planning
routines helps to bridge this gap.
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Changes to Smart Teams brochures
Plan CFO Forum presentation
Organise accommodation - NSW trip
Design ST diagnostic tool
Decision re Smart Work online
Videos for MIS revamp
Meetings with key clients re ST
Harvard key concepts review
Plan re house sale timeline
Train the Trainer document for
workshops
A
A B
D D
E E
D
E D
A B C D E
G B G D G G
A H C D E H
A B C D E I
A B C D E F
G
G
G
H
H I
Using the Monthly Top 10 prioritisation tool is a great way of stepping back
each month to get some perspective, and to work out what is most important
for you over the coming month.
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Big picture
Weeks ahead
Coming week
Week just gone
Review
Organise Anticipate
Weekly
ROAR
Realign
People Priorities Projects
1. Review meetings
2. Reschedule priorities
3. Clear Inbox
4. Preview meetings
5. Set priorities
6. Block time
7. Anticipate upcoming deadlines
8. Schedule proactive activities
9. Protect blocks of time
10. Capture discussion items
11. Reconnect with big priorities
12. Next step actions from projects
The Weekly ROAR is a three-dimensional planning process that gets you to
look back, look forward and look up. This is a critical discipline and once
embedded as a habit, can reduce stress levels, give back control and get you
work on the great work in your role.
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© Adapt Productivity 2021
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
Make a
START
Do it
AGAIN
Develop a
ROUTINE
Build a
HABIT
It is possible
It is repeatable
It is sustainable
It is permanent
1. Focus each day with a daily plan (PASS) Daily
2. Clear your Inbox to zero emails (DDDD) Often
3. Invest time to plan your week (ROAR) Weekly
The 4 Week Challenge
Finally, we will ask you to focus on doing three things consistently over the
next four weeks.
1. Focus your day using the PASS process
2. Clear your inbox to zero using the 4Ds
3. Plan your week using the Weekly ROAR
Do these three things consistently over four weeks and you will build a habit
for a lifetime.
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www.linkedin.com/in/dermotcrowley
dermot.crowley@adaptproductivity.com.au
Connect with me
Available at Dymocks or on Amazon
I hope you loved the course and are excited about your new productivity
system. Please reach out to me if you have any feedback, questions or
implementation issues. Good luck!
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