Capturing stuff for O3 / PMO3 / Boss update

I have one very large binder for all 13 of my directs. I am on the road a lot and I cannot take multiple books. I do have the annual book in my office and regularly move the older sheets into that file.

I have two types of reminders. An individual reminder has impact on one direct. For these I will turn to their o3 tab and write a note. I almost have next week's o3 in place and ready to catch information. If it is a reminder for the entire team (such as "Catch up on future goals") then I write it into my GTD system and leave it as a reminder. I DO sometimes put it in as a post it that gets moved forward to the next o3.

The final step is to go through "The Book" every Friday to capture my open loops. Then on Monday I prepare for the new week's o3s again.

It is a very powerful tool!

I try to do as much as I can electronically, and found that Evernote works really well for this application. I keep an open note for each of my directs and one for my boss. Whenever something comes up that I want to speak to any one of them about, I throw it in Evernote as a "ToDo."  It works for me, because it's available to enter/access on any and all of my devices. Then, before each O3 I review these notes, and check them off as done.

For the past several months, I've experimented with using personal kanban as a means of planning/tracking the things I need to get done.  I have three columns including Backlog (of things to be done), WIP (work in progress), and Completed.  Then I write my tasks on sticky notes and move them from one column to the next as I work on them and complete them.  

When I note something I need to share with a direct in our 1o1, I write a new task with their name in my Backlog.  Then I note the item I need to discuss with them in our next 1o1.  After the 1o1 with the direct, I move the task to the Complete column, indicating that we discussed those things.  

When I need to discuss something with my manager in our 1o1, I flag the sticky note task.  During the call (we're remote from each other), I can easily refer back to the flagged tasks that are in progress or completed.  At a glance, I can easily tell him what I did last week, and what I'm currently working on.  

If you're not familiar with kanban, there are many sites and books that explain it.  One that focuses on personal kanban is at http://www.personalkanban.com/pk/personal-kanban-101/.  

I use a modified Cornell note sheet for each O3 and meeting, coalition or committee I have in the week, all kept in a red 3-prong folder. Documents that I need to refer to for the meetings (agendae, etc) I slip into the front pockets of the folder. The face sheet on top of all these sheets is a master "to-do" list that I add items to for action during the week. At the end of the week everything I didn't get done moves to the top of the to-do list for the following week and I move items that need to be communicated to the O3 or meeting sheets for the next week. If I have meetings or reminders to schedule for myself so that they make it onto my Blackberry I do that at the end of the week. Then I staple the whole lot together (for the week that is done) and file them by date.

I'm off-site for most meetings, so pen and paper is the way to go for me. It's taken a few years to get down, but I think it's working well for me at this point.

Happy Trails to you!

I use almost the same system as MFCULBERT for my directs. Post it's go into the binder from items that come up during the week, and a weekly review for the entire process. For the group items I use my GTD system (Things by cultured code) and capture the data for our weekly meeting.

For my boss I have a section within 'Things'  called boss follow up.

This system works quite well for me.

I have used Nozbe. Then whether in the office or on the road I can jot down items to discuss in O3's with my direct reports as to do's. Each of my direct reports are projects with to do's under them. I'm not sure they would want to be classified as a project, but it works for me. I see above that Amasur uses Evernote. That too would be good and it is mobile.

Blessings,

Dave 

Similar to Evernote, I have used Outlook notes with one note for each person plus another for meetings with my boss.  I have a system to note with * follow up items for next meeting, any red flags or critical items that need additional discussion.  It's very important to capture these notes during the meeting or right after, otherwise the details get forgotten.