The Weekly Review

In this episode Jean and James talk about the capture phase—getting things out of your head and into your trusted system. Topics include capturing commitments with a short timeline, some Siri frustrations, Post-it Notes, and techniques to avoid being mortified when attending the opera. James offers up a fleeting ten dollar word or two. Both Jean and James manage to go an entire episode without mentioning Mailstrom or SaneBox.

Do you have a life-hack for capture you’d like to share?
Let us know on Micro.blog at @theweeklyreview or Twitter at @weeklyreviewfm.

Articles and tools mentioned in this episode:
iMore Article: Siri: The ultimate guide
Do Not Distrub Tool: Parallels Toolbox for Mac
Apple Article: Use Do Not Disturb on your Mac
iMore Article: How to set up and use Do Not Disturb on Mac

(Jean mentioned she uses Parallels Toolbox for Mac for Do Not Disturb. James forgot to mention he uses the built-in option-click on the Notification Center icon in the toolbar to turn on Do Not Disburb.)

Trick or treat? It’s the week of Halloween and a major Apple product announcement, aka two productivity busters. We look at human failure in scheduling and Jean’s epic red wine bottle disaster. There’s no trusted system that can overcome human fallibility, and life sometimes throws you a curve ball that your task management system will not be ready for.

On the productive side, we process some email episode follow-up from last week, including Jean’s discovery of the iOS app Chuck, put out by the Mailstrom folks, for effectively slashing your inbox while mobile.

Our Email Processing Tools
Get $5 off Sanebox (referral link)
Get $5 off Mailstrom (referral link)

In this bonus-length episode Jean and James compare and contrast two services they use to keep their email inboxes manageable: Mailstrom and SaneBox. Each service has its own core ‘superpower’ and philosophy as well as areas where their functionality overlap.

We’d love to hear from you about your experience with these services or other ways you’ve found to manage your inbox. Just mention us in your Micro.blog: @theweeklyreview or on Twitter: @weeklyreviewfm.

Our Email Processing Tools
Get $5 off Sanebox (referral link)
Get $5 off Mailstrom (referral link)

Jean and James trade stories of productivity milestones, as well as tasks they need help with. Jean finally completed her 2017 tax return, with help from PDFpenPro and TurboTax. James is working on an app that he’s not ready to announce yet, and he’s using Sketch to design the interface. We finish up with an extended discussion about how to decide what gets tagged “Next” in our OmniFocus systems.

PDFpenPro

TurboTax

Sketch

What’s The Forecast?

Jean and James discuss that dilemna of the digital age: Use third-party apps or the apps built-in to iOS and macOS? Jean uses a fair number of third-pary apps while James tends to stick to the built-in apps, with a few exceptions. Topics include launchers, timers, clipboard managers, and a shout out to the built-in Reminders app.

We’d love to hear from you about the third-party or built-in apps that you use and what makes them useful to you. Mention us in your Micro.blog: @theweeklyreview or on Twitter: @weeklyreviewfm.

Third-Party Tools We Talked About:
Alfred
EggTimer 2
Fantastical
OmniFocus
Reeder

Jean and James explore the potential for increased productivity by incorporating RSS feeds into their daily workflows. Jean has been using RSS readers for years while James jumps in with both feet and reports on his experiences. Both are excited by a feature of the RSS service Feedbin that can move email newsletters out of your inbox and into a feed. Also, James makes the biggest faux pas yet in his brief podcasting career.

RSS Tools We Talked About:
Feedbin
Feed Wrangler
Reeder for Mac and iOS

Episode 23 was all about getting started with our new iPhones and iOS 12. But there was other big news this week: OmniFocus 3 for the Mac was released. We realized we needed to do a special second episode to talk about James’s article What’s The Forecast?, which appeared on the Inside OmniFocus blog. Learn more about how James uses the Forecast perspective in OmniFocus 3 to manage his work and meet his deadlines.

Recorded on September 21, the Autumnal Equinox or, as we know it, iPhone Delivery Day. James’s phone was delivered right before we started while Jean’s was still out on a UPS truck circling Portland. We were maybe just a tiny bit distracted. But we do manage to discuss some of the new productivity features in iOS 12, such as Screentime, Shortcuts, and Memoji. (OK, maybe that last one is an anti-productivity example.)

As part of the OmniFocus 3 for Mac release festivities, co-host @jamesdempsey has written an article for Inside OmniFocus: What’s the Forecast?

inside.omnifocus.com/james-dem…

// @macgenie @omni

Jean and James share their excitement for the upcoming releases of macOS Mojave and OmniFocus 3 for Mac. James follows up on last week’s calendar discussion with some thoughts on using the Forecast perspective in OmniFocus 3. Jean considers options for finishing her taxes since her longtime accountant has retired. Jean and James assure TurboTax that neither of them have a railway pension.

Listeners: We encourage you to do your weekly review, if you haven’t already. And after you finish your weekly review or if you reach a goal like hitting Inbox Zero, we’d love to hear from you on Micro.blog (@TheWeeklyReview) or Twitter (@WeeklyReviewFM).

Organizational fun begins with the calendar. James and Jean talk about the journey from paper to digital calendars, to iCal on the Mac and the array of choices from third-party developers. We also discuss our approaches to the important question of what things actually belong on a calendar versus what should go into our trusted task management systems. Finally, we look at how sharing a calendar requires one to define even more clearly what is really happening and what is not.

XOXO Festival, Portland, Oregon

Fantastical

BusyCal

WhenWorks

This week James celebrates his one year organizationiversary! Jean and James mark the occassion by swapping stories of garages, cooking, oppresive summer heat, and some thoughts on using your trusted system to help in establishing habits.

Today on the TMO Daily Observations podcast @macgenie and @jamesdempsey talk with @jgamet about how @theweeklyreview podcast got started and other organizational fun. www.macobserver.com/podcasts/…

This week we take a deep dive into managing a particular type of unwanted email, the many messages we get that are meant for someone else named Jean MacDonald or James Dempsey. This kind of “personal” spam inspires us to brainstorm all kinds of plans to take advantage of the fun life of travel and parties that our doppelgängers enjoy. James dissuades Jean from her potentially felonious idea to fix the problem.

Listeners: We encourage you to do your weekly review, if you haven’t already. And after you finish your weekly review or if you reach a goal like hitting Inbox Zero, we’d love to hear from you on Micro.blog (@TheWeeklyReview) or Twitter (@WeeklyReviewFM).

Our Email Processing Tools
Get $5 off Sanebox (referral link)
Get $5 off Mailstrom (referral link)

In this episode Jean and James recount tales of cross-country relocation and new car purchases spurred on by a desire to avoid DMV-related tasks. Jean continues to rebuild her trusted system from the ground up, while James is reworking his daily and weekly workflow to use the new capabilities of OmniFocus 3.

This week, we talk about the crucial role of laundry as a step in getting back on track after a trip. Jean discovers that “Unpack” doesn’t work as a next action. James shares some insights from the beta of OmniFocus 3 for the Mac. Jean wonders if it’s worth tagging tasks with a duration. And we congratulate listener @agilelisa for hitting Inbox Zero. We need to design some stickers to send out to reward listener milestones!

Recuperation and recommitting is the theme this week. Jean has been under the weather and James has been on an epic roadtrip to the Great White North on a family visit. How do you get yourself back on track when something knocks you off your routine? Can you renegotiate your commitments with yourself so you can move forward without guilt or stress? (Or can you at least get your Star Trek artwork framed so you can hang it in your office?)

Lee Draws 365 Star Trek Scribbles

Jean returns from her trip to Chicago and talks about being on the verge of archiving her Omni Focus database and starting from scratch as part of her initial capture reboot. James spent some time re-reading the book Getting Things Done while travelling to New Brunswick, Canada and describes how it has helped refine his thoughts around his trusted system.

Chicago, July 20, 2018 - Jean recording Episode 14 on the road. #viewfromthereview

This week Jean reports on re-initializing her trusted system and discovers that processing papers can be more profitable than expected. James describes how he uses deferred items in Omni Focus and talks about planning for an upcoming trip.

This week, Jean reviews her plans and reasons for starting over with GTD. She shares her ideas with James for clearing her calendar to focus on the initial processing of everything in the “inbox” that is her office, while also making space in that office to work. James talks about the importance of having the right equipment and furniture—especially easy-to-use file cabinets.

Following on the conversation from last episode, Jean and James each find themselves mid-way through their weekly review. The discussion of what a weekly review should consist of continues. Jean finds it to be more comprehensive than she has been doing. James finds that very full inboxes can take up almost all of the time alloted for a review.

Listeners: We encourage you to do your weekly review, if you haven’t already. And after you finish your weekly review or if you reach a goal like hitting Inbox Zero, we’d love to hear from you on Micro.blog ([@TheWeeklyReview]) or Twitter (@WeeklyReviewFM).

This morning, @jamesdempsey is doing his weekly review in the San Francisco Presidio at the Letterman Digital Arts Center. #ViewFromTheReview

Prompted by our sad admission that neither of us has done our weekly review this week, we get back to basics and examine what a weekly review should consist of. As we dig into the list of what needs to be done at each review, we recognize our stumbling blocks and strategize how to overcome them.

This week, Jean and James discuss some approaches to keeping the flat surfaces in your home and office from becoming places for clutter to accumulate. We take a virtual look inside Jean’s medicine cabinet and talk about the ‘scan and shred’ approach that has freed James’ kitchen table from being an open-air filing cabinet.

Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 The scanner James has been happy using.

New York Times Tidy Home Challenge (subscription required)

Listeners: We encourage you to do your weekly review, if you haven’t already. And after you finish your weekly review or if you reach a goal like hitting Inbox Zero, we’d love to hear from you on Micro.blog (@TheWeeklyReview) or Twitter (@WeeklyReviewFM).