Tools and Approaches Informing Greg’s Work System

Here's a list of tools and approaches I’ve used. I’ve borrowed approaches and features from some, not all.

Tools

• Google Tables - If your work is hitting an inflection point where others are getting involved, consider this great tool, paired with Scrum or Kanban process. Overkill for my personal work management style. Alternatively, just consider Google Sheets if you need a basic workflow.

• Fancy Google Docs Features - Google docs is introducing some fun work management features, like status dropdowns. My concern is that they introduce too much extra motion without shortcut keys.

• Emacs Org Mode - Amazing for those who crave elegant, deeply configurable command line friendly tools, but impossible if you need to communicate with anyone outside engineering. (I really miss my Bash terminal.)

• Evernote - A nice system, but I prefer Google docs based approaches.

• Google Tasks - Solid, basic. I prefer text driven approaches over GUIs.

• Google Keep - Great for taking notes & sharing. Not my tool choice for a personal productivity system.

• Other Tools I’ve Tried - Asana, Flow, JIRA, Workday, Buganizer

• Session Buddy - A fantastic and simple window and tab manager for Chrome. I’ve moved away from it as my system has matured and moved towards use of Chrome Tab Groups.

Approaches

• Scrum - Amazing for working groups, overkill for personal productivity. GWS (Greg’s Work System) borrows heavily from Agile / Scrum patterns and principles of timeboxing & planning cadence.

• Kanban - Amazing for working groups, but I prefer document-based personal work management to kanban tools. My system is structured to manage work-in-process and optimize flow, concepts borrowed from Kanban.

• SMART Goals - Still makes sense after all these years. Read more.

• Other Approaches I’ve Used - Rational Unified Process (RUP), No Process at All, SAFE, Scaled Scrum, The Scientific Method, Disciplined Agile Delivery, PMBOK, GTD, Pomodoro