gtd

this is where my "personal productivity" / business productivity / stuff to do with business in general / whatever-else-you-want-to-call-it interests surface... i'm a big sucker for such sites as 43 folders, the chief happiness officer, and business pundit. i like the idea of happy people at work. i like the idea of happy people using technology - happily. i like the idea of all-round happiness of work things working. i think i'm getting that idea across...

i have recently picked up extra responsibility at work, and have a dire need for organising things. organising time, tasks, people, information, myself, you name it it has to be organised, and organised now! the problem is that i have no set methodology / procedure for this. all along i've managed fine with my spreadsheets and outlook (i am forced to work with ms windows and office suite because of the kind of work i do, having to constantly sync documents with other people, and my belief that ms does indeed provide the best office suite i have yet come across. but perhaps this should be kept to a later conversation).

but now, i just feel like i need something more. i need one place where i can go and see what i need to do, make my lists (as simply and with as little effort as possible), and get things done. with this in mind, i approached one of my bosses, who mentioned a tool that worked for him, as long as he stuck to it, a gtd or get things done tool. so i went to look for it. and discovered it is actually a whole methodology.

before i go ahead, and go to all the effort of learning the methodology... does anyone have any suggestions? anything to add? any tips, tricks, tools (free preferrably) to recommend?

perhaps i should list some of the things i need to do?

• schedule meetings
• schedule training sessions
• a whole lot of stuff to do with preparing for the training sessions
  
• draw "pretty pictures", otherwise known as process diagrams and stuff that goes into the training material
• present training
  
• keep an eye on (and track of) other people's progress on their phases which i'm reliant on
• meetings meetings meetings
• confirm meetings, confirm training, confirm confirmations
  
• gaaaaa! toooooo muuuucccchhhh ssssttttuuuffff!

you get the picture.