Saturday, September 17, 2005

Getting Things Done by David Allen




I first read a couple of articles about David Allen in Fast Company. At first, I thought it was another personal organization guru. The more I learned, the more inadequate that description became. It is more about how to manage workflow, how best to plan, how best to collect and process information you need, how best to manage projects, how best to decide what to do next.

It is a mix of core principles and tricks. I tried some of the tricks first and they worked. That was about 5 years ago. I bought the book after taking it out of the library and reading it first. That was a couple of years ago. Since then I have tried to integrate the core principles but have only been 50% successful. I was someone whose desk was on the disorganized end of the normal spectrum. I became someone whose desk was considered organized. My files are more organized. My Lotus Notes is more organized. I usually can find anything I need to quickly.

I am working to implement the rest of the GTD principles in my work and personal life. Yes, my personal life too. My wife will appreciate this. She was very surprised at my neat and organized work area when she visited my office and would to see me do the same thing at home.

Anyway, the book and the website are links on the sidebar of Customer Service Guy. I strongly recommend them.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Moments of Truth

There are two letters from customers hanging on a wall of my cubicle. In each case I was praised for my efforts in helping them make sure they got a shipment so that they could keep production running. Both customer said nice things about me. One (a small food manufacturer) even that send me a box containing some of their products (yum!). Both have other things in common.
  • Neither was one of my customers (part of my service area)
  • I was not in a helpful mood
  • I did not want to stay late to help and it was close to my time to leave

However, I treated them like they were my customers. I was courteous and helpful even though I did feel like it. I did what I had to do in order to help them get what they needed. These were moments of truth for me, tests to see if I really wanted to do customer service for a living. Fortunately, they went OK. Part of the reason they went OK is because I work on maintaining a proper attitude, have made myself knowledgable about my products and supply chain and most importantly.

Moments of truth do not wait until you feel like it, in work or in life. We need to do what we can to prepare ourselves in advance for those moments.