2. Personal organization
Gabriel Csergő

3. Ordinary day… at home
 You wake up late on a Monday morning as you forgot to
set the alarm the night before.
 It was an “interesting” TV talk show about dogs on the
street and authorities not doing anything about it.
 And you fell asleep on the couch after eating too much
chips and drinking tomato juice (you don’t even like it).
 As in the past, you forgot to make sure there is good food
for the evening and it was too late to order some by the
time you got hungry at 10pm.
 Actually, you wanted to see a nice movie recommended by
a friend, but you forgot the name of it and it was too late
to make a call.
 Internet connection was down as nobody paid the last bill.
 Your credit card was in the wallet forgotten in the jacket left
on your car’s backseat.
 Of course, the car had been parked at your friend’s house.
It took a while to figure this out.

4. Ordinary day… at work (1/2)
 You get into the office and head directly to the
meeting room for the Scrum started 10 minutes ago.
Another meeting is in the room so you lose a few
more minutes to get to the right one. Apparently you
missed the e-mail announcing the change. You arrive
at the end and start asking colleagues about what
they discussed to catch up, but still missed some
important info.
 You get to your desk and start with Facebook, many
things happened since your last check on Friday

5. Ordinary day… at work (2/2)
 Your TL waits for you to check-in the work did last week so
a new build could be made. In the mean time you verify
your e-mail – 10 new. Latest one is a newsletter and you
open two links. Meanwhile, your manager asks you on
Skype about your timesheet for last week that you didn’t
send on Friday. Your younger brother contacts you on
Messenger while the colleague next to you has a good
laugh on a cool YouTube video. You go to check it out and
then together you go to the kitchen to get some tea.
 You suddenly remember the timesheet and go back to fill it
in. Of course, you bother two colleagues about the code
to be used for last Tuesday’s meeting. Your mobile starts
ringing, it’s your mother – there’s a big issue with Solitaire.
You’re stuck for 20 minutes!

6. Why personal organization? (1/5)
World of multi tasking:

7. Why personal organization? (2/5)
People can reach us on many different
channels:

8. Why personal organization? (3/5)
Complete a task
Think about other things
New ideas
We forget…
Stressed
Prioritize in our head
We forget…
New work
We forget…

9. Why personal organization? (4/5)
We are busy and we get a lot of distractions

10. Why personal organization? (5/5)
It is very important for growing in your career!
Being on time
Preparing meetings ahead
Providing input/feedback
for recurrent reports/activities

11. Record everything you need to do
Use a notebook or an application (PC, phone)

12. Manage incoming tasks (1/2)
First of all you need to decide how often you
can receive new tasks
E-mail – always open vs checked from time to
time
What about Skype, Lync etc?
Do you always answer your phone?
Do you allow colleagues to interrupt you?

13. Manage incoming tasks (2/2)
Multitasking is not efficient, focus is the key!
hide taskbar, work full screen
stop notifications
use silent mode
make appointments
use a meeting room etc.

14. Getting Things Done (GTD) workflow

15. Applying GTD workflow for e-mail
Empty inbox – prerequisite!
Inbox - a collection of new incoming work
Read e-mail from time to time
Create folders: Actions, Waiting, Reference,
Projects
Reference – store it if needed later or Delete
Quick things should be done on the spot – short
reply, forward, check
Delegate – move mail in Waiting
Defer – Move to Actions or Make an appointment
in Calendar
Create Project if it requires more actions

16. How to use your Calendar
Add all recurring activities
Add activities that usually are related to other
tasks/actions:
Add planned actions and reviews
Leave windows of unallocated time for review
incoming work, for unexpected things, to
move forward on list of Next actions

17. Projects
If multi step, it is a project
Index of projects - keep same structure in email, notes, files
Make note of how you will know it is complete
What are the next 1-2 actions that will move it
forward

18. Disruptions
Before starting a difficult task,
move disruptions away
Clean your desk, focus on current work
Close or Stop notifications for Outlook, Skype,
Yahoo!, Facebook etc.
Go to a quite place or use a headset (silence
or classical baroque music)
You may inform colleagues
your are really busy

19. Dealing with Interruptions

20. Reviews
Review of incoming work
Review of projects
Review of the week
Review of the day
Review of your career (i.e. 6m)

21. Checklists
An example: Vacation preparation
 Get project approval for specific period
 Get manager approval for specific period
 Make request – paper/ system (if needed)
 Inform colleagues & client
 Check recurring activities in Calendar for the
vacation period (i.e. make TS in advance)
 Set-up Out of Office reply
 Plan your vacation 

23. Links and books
David Allen, Getting Things Done® and
GTD® - www.davidco.com
 Getting Things Done, David Allen
 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,
Stephen R. Covey

24. Questions?

25. Thank you!
Feel free to contact me:
csergogaby@yahoo.com
ro.linkedin.com/in/gabrielcsergo/