Chuck Frey at the Mind Mapping Software Blog has an interesting post about using a Daily Capture Mind Map. I found this to be a fascinating idea, and I think it will address a serious weakness I have in my own productivity. I've extensively studied Franklin Covey and David Allen's Getting Things Done, but there's one thing I've just never been good at, and it's causing me a lot of problems.
It has to do with how I track things that other people owe me. I'm not so bad with tracking things that I have to get done for other people, but I haven't found a system that works with my brain for tracking when I have to depend on other people for action items to complete my own work.
I've tried bcc'ing myself on emails to other people, then putting it in an "@Waiting For" email folder. I've tried tracking these items under an "@Waiting For" list in Remember The Milk or a similarly named Outlook category. Somehow, a lot of these things still manage to slip through the cracks.
Enter the Daily Capture Mind Map. Chuck, linking to an idea from a business course, explains that a Daily Capture Mind Map should include the following:
- Actions
- Ideas
- Commitments to me
- Commitments to others
The "Commitments to me" interests me the most. Chuck explains: "... commitments to me is where you keep track of the things that other people owe you."
Now, this is probably so simple I'm the last one to come across the idea, but I plan to implement this first thing Monday morning when I get back at work, especially since I'm waiting for action items from other people to complete several of my own tasks.
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