Working Smart

Using Keyboard Shortcuts to Improve Your Productivity

I have never met anyone really productive who relied on the mouse. It’s just too inefficient. For example, consider the following two methods for saving a file in Microsoft Word. Imagine you’re typing a report. You realize you need to save your file.

Approach 1: You take your hand off the keyboard, grab your mouse, move the cursor to the File menu, move the cursor down to the Save menu item and then click on the mouse button. Your workflow is interrupted and it takes you a few minutes to get back in “the Zone.”

Approach 2: You simply press ⌘S on the Mac or Ctrl-S on the PC and keep working. This takes a fraction of the time and has the added advantage of not interrupting your workflow. And, because it is so easy, you do it every time you pause to think. This ensures that you are frequently saving your work in the event your computer crashes.

Which makes more sense? It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it. Yet few people take the time to really learn the standard operating system shortcuts (Mac or Windows). If you haven’t learned these already, I would urge you to do so. Over time, you will see a major boost in your productivity.

But in this post, I want to focus on creating keyboard shortcuts for common, non-operating system tasks. Whether you are using Microsoft Entourage or Outlook, the concept is the same. If you are going to use either one as your workflow “dashboard,” you can vastly increase your productivity by creating one-keystroke shortcuts to create new email messages, tasks, events, and notes. To do this, you need a third-party macro processor. This software will allow you to perform a series of actions with a single keystroke.

When I had a Windows machine, I used Keyboard Launchpad from Stardock Systems. It’s still only $9.95—a tremendous bargain. However, since switching to the Mac, I am using iKey from Scripts Software. Unfortunately, it is $30.00, but it is still much cheaper than QuicKeys, which is $79.95. (I used Keyboard Maestro for a while. It was only $20.00, but I found it buggy. It didn’t always work reliably. I’ve been using iKey for a few months and love it.)

Regardless of which program you use, here are some keyboard shortcuts I have found helpful. Keep in mind that on the Mac, ⇧ refers to the shift key, ⌃ refers to the Ctrl key, ⌥ refers to the Alt or Option key, and ⌘ refers to the Apple or command key.

Keystroke	Actions
⌥⌘c	Switch to Entourage from whatever application you are currently in. Select the File | New | Task command.
⌥⌘e	Switch to Entourage from whatever application you are currently in. Select the File | New | Calendar Event command.
⌥⌘k	Switch to Entourage from whatever application you are currently in. Select the File | New | Task command.
⌥⌘m	Switch to Entourage from whatever application you are currently in. Select the File| New | Mail Message command.
⌥⌘n	Switch to Entourage from whatever application you are currently in. Select the File | New | Note command.

The beauty of these shortcuts is that they allow you to get ideas out of your mind and into the appropriate receptacle (e.g., task list, calendar, note, etc.) as quickly as possible with the least amount of interruption to your workflow.

In addition to these, within Entourage, I have also created a keyboard shortcut for filing the current message in my Archive folder. I do not try to file messages into a more specific folder as some people do. For me, this adds unnecessary complexity to my email processing. I want to focus on deciding what action to take with the message and then filing it in a common folder, so I can always work toward maintaining an empty email inbox.

If you have to also decide what folder to file the message in, you cut your productivity in half. And, honestly, I don’t think it speeds up the retrieval process appreciably. Instead, I let Spotlight do the heavy lifting. (If you are using Outlook on the PC, I recommend Lookout, a small add-in that plugs into Outlook and makes searching within messages a snap.) So, I just dump every message in an Archive folder and leave it at that. This enables me to fly through my email.

In order to set up such a shortcut in Entourage, first make sure you have a folder named “Archive” under your inbox. Then select a message. It doesn’t matter which one. Select Message | Move To. If you see the name of your folder, write down the exact name. For example, mine is “Archive (mhyatt)”. The “mhyatt” part indicates that the folder is actually a subfolder in my main Exchange mailbox.

If you don’t see the name of your folder, then select Choose Folder..., then select your folder. Press the Move key. This will actually move the message, so you may want to retrieve it manually and place it back in your inbox. Then re-read the last paragraph and get the exact name of the folder.

Okay, now you are ready to create the shortcut. Go to System Preferences | Keyboard & Mouse | Keyboard Shortcuts. Click on the + button, then select Microsoft Entourage as the Application. Then enter the exact name of your Archive folder in the Menu Title field. Finally, enter the keystroke combination you want to use in the Keyboard Shortcut field. Press OK. That’s it.

Now quit Entourage and relaunch it. You should now be able to use your shortcut to move messages to your Archive folder with a single keystroke. You’ll be surprised at how much this speeds up your workflow.

This is just a start. Pay attention to how you work. Whenever you find yourself doing the same thing over and over, automate it with a single keyboard shortcut. This will keep you focused on the work at hand, and free your mind up for more creative problem-solving.

Technorati Tags: entourage, gtd, mac, productivity, workflow

Look Ma, No VPN

I have only used a VPN (virtual private network client) for one reason: to connect to my company’s Exchange Server. This was the only way to download my e-mail other than via Web access. However, it was a big hassle. I essentially had to make two connections—one to the Internet and one to my server. It also dramatically slowed down my Internet connection, both on Windows and the Mac.

I have waited in vain for Cisco to update their VPN client to work with OS X Tiger. Although Tiger was released in April, Cisco has still not released a VPN that works with it. As a workaround, I have used the built-in Internet Connect program that is built into OS X. It works, but it is very fragile. It doesn’t take much to disrupt my connection and boot me off the VPN altogether.

As it turns out, it doesn’t matter. Thanks to a tip on the Entourage Blog, I don’t need a VPN client at all. I connect directly to my Exchange Server by inserting the address for my Outlook Web Access Web site into the server field of my Account settings. The only change I had to make was to change the “https:\\” reference to “http:\\” (note deleted “s”). This is way cool. No disruptions. No connection slow-downs. Good riddance VPN!

Technorati Tags: entourage, vpn

Automated Email Follow-up

In my experience as a manager, delegation is the easy part. Follow-up is the hard part. This is particularly true when it comes to e-mail.

I’m afraid that in the race to get through the scores of messages that daily hit our inbox, we hit the proverbial ball over the net, but never really follow-up to see what happened when the ball arrives in the other person’s court. Was it hit back? Was it tossed to someone else? Or, did it just hit the court and lay there with a hundred other balls. If it was the latter, then you really didn’t accomplish anything.

Delegation is a method for managers to get more work done. But if we don’t follow-up, we’ve only deceived ourselves, thinking that more work is getting done. The only way to really change this is to create a culture of follow-up (more about that in a future post) and be relentless with it.

One of the basic questions you have to ask as you go through your e-mail is whether or not this item requires an action. Sometimes, you will determine that you are the right person to take the next action. Often, you will determine that someone else is.

Technorati Tags: davidallen, gtd, productivity, workflow

Let’s assume it’s the latter. You forward the e-mail to the appropriate person and ask them to follow-up. But here’s where the system breaks down. We all know that some people are better at follow-up than others. With a few people, I can check it off my list (and dump it from my mind) when I make the assignment. But for all others, I either have to write the assignment down somewhere and then review this list regularly or I have to just trust that they will follow-up and hope for the best. As someone once told me, “hope is not a strategy.”

I have to admit, I am not too good at writing down every assignment. More often than I would like to admit, I hope people will follow-through, but I don’t loop back around to ensure that they did. Shame on me. Customers, fellow-employees, vendors don’t like to hear, “Well, I passed the buck to Fred. You'll have to check with him.” Instead, they are dying for someone to take full responsibility and follow through to the end. They want to hear your version of the Harry Truman quote, “The buck stops here.”

So how can we make it easier to follow-up on assignment that we delegate via e-mail? One option is to buy David Allen's Getting Things Done Outlook Add-In. If you use Outlook, this is worth taking a look at. It places a follow-up button onto every e-mail message. It’s very cool. When I was a Windows user, I found it indispensable. But it also does a lot of things that may make it difficult to justify the $69.95 cost. And, of course, if you are a Mac user, you are completely out of luck.

I would like to outline a solution that is very simple—and, best of all, free. Here’s how it works:

1. Create a free e-mail account at any one of the free services. I use Google's GMail. But there are many others available, including Yahoo, Mail.com, and Excite.
   
   
2. Set up an email address like “waitingfor.abc@gmail.com,” where the “abc” portion is your initials or some other identifier. If you have read David Allen’s book, you know that he recommends “Waiting For” as a category of items you use to list the projects that are in someone else’s court. You are “waiting for” them to do something, before you can proceed.
   
   
3. Set up your new account in your e-mail client. This will be different for each e-mail client, but most of these free e-mail services will walk you through the process.
   
   
4. Now create a folder under your inbox called “Waiting For.” For example, here’s how my inbox folder structure currently looks:
   
   



5. Now create a simple email rule that redirects all the e-mail coming from your “waitingfor” account to to the “Waiting For” folder. This process will be different, depending on the e-mail client you are using.

Okay, you’re ready to go. Now, whenever you want to track an assignment that you are delegating via e-mail, just enter your “waitingfor” e-mail address in the BCC field. (Since most e-mail software packages sport an auto-fill feature, you can generally do this with a few keystrokes.) Now, send your e-mail. If everything is set up correctly, your e-mail will go out from your main account and you will receive back an e-mail from your new “waitingfor” account. Your email rule will automatically file it in your “Waiting For” folder.

Now, during your weekly review (you are doing a “weekly review” aren't you?), you simply go to the Waiting For folder and review the assignments you have made. When the item has been completed to your satisfaction, you can drag the message to your e-mail archive. That’s all there is to it. Simple, elegant, and free.