One of the things that is most challenging for the human brain is to keep track of situations in which there are a lot of interdependent variables.  We can really only keep about seven things in our minds at one time. So, give us something like a wedding reception, with the need to keep the menu, all the participants, the space, the flowers, the music, the photographs, the drinks, and the thousand and one tiny details all straight in our minds at once, and the result can be extreme stress.

Put the wedding reception onto a calendar filled with similarly complex and important events, add a large staff and numerous different venues, and you have the situation faced by RAM Catering, an elegant kosher caterer in Manhattan.

We’ve said that this is a challenge for humans, but the truth is, in many ways it’s more difficult for a spread sheet. No wonder many caterers rely on a barrage of Post-It notes, files bristling with notes, and a lot of extra time to sort everything out.

Ram took a different approach: they called Clevertech.

We built them a rich interface application that solved the problem. The interface has multiple screens that suit the way RAM’s managers like to work. Each manager has a dashboard — you can see an example at the top of this post — that shows the events coming up and has a project management element allowing a quick check that the contract has been sent, the contract and deposit have been received, etc.

From this dashboard, the manager can go in and set the menu:

The menu screen contains all the necessary details right where they’re needed, and it has drag-and-drop functionality connected with RAM’s extensive database of recipes. The manager can see at a glance how the dishes work together and how they’ll be served. A sudden change from chicken to lamb is no emergency: a click to bring up the lamb dishes and the manager can drag a new option into the menu.

Details of the arrangements are available from the dashboard.

Beyond the individual events, it’s also easy to pull out particular information RAM often needs, from the newest dishes to the valet info for the upcoming week’s events.

There are lots of little extra touches in this RIA that make it fit perfectly into RAM’s workflow. The calendar screen below highlights a few.

At the upper left, you can see that it’s possible to filter the events by location. At the upper right, notice that you can print the calendar, and choose to filter what’s printed in some useful ways. These features prevent information overload and allow staff to zero in on the information they really need.

The calendar shows the current month at the top, and the following two months in thumbnails. On the lower right, the search box — like all the search boxes — gives suggestions. Type in the first few letters of a client’s name and choices pop up.

There’s a lot of information on this one screen, but since it’s been designed and arranged with the specific company’s workflow in mind, it makes the whole process easy. Even so, the Legend at the side reminds users of the color coding so the learning curve stays gentle.

While this looks like a luxurious solution –and it is — the reality is that the savings in time, reduction of errors, and increased staff and customer satisfaction give an excellent return on investment for a custom solution like this one.

A RIA may be just the solution for your business, too. Call Clevertech at (516) 869-4970 to discuss the challenges your business faces. You may find that our technology offers the perfect solution.

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David Allen’s GTD (Getting Things Done) system is designed to bring peace of mind as well as productivity. Recently, after sharing this information with a client, I got the most interesting phone call. “Kuty,” he said, “I’m sitting on the train and something amazing is happening. My mind is at peace. I’m juggling tons of tasks, but my mind feels unburdened.”

A phenomenal benefit of this system allows you to free up your mental bandwidth and as a result handle more with less stress.

GTD step by step

1. The first essential habit is what David Allen calls “ubiquitous capture.” What does that actually mean? Grab the task as  it goes by. E-mails, letters, information, phone calls, ideas — all of it needs to be collected somewhere. Once you trust yourself to capture everything, you won’t need to waste mental energy on remembering, “I need to answer that letter” or “Where did I put the notes for that meeting?” or “I wonder whether the Cincinnati office has solved that problem with their database.”
2. The second essential habit is thinking in terms of next actions or project lists. If a task is more than one action, then it is a project and belongs on a project list. When you review all the items you captured –  file them as a project or as a next action. If an item is a project, add the next action to move that project forward.  If it’s a next action, attach a context or due date so you know where and when this task can be done. (Read more about contexts below).
3. Third, you need to ensure regular processing. If you can’t trust yourself to process all the things you capture on a routine basis, then you’ll have your urgent tasks in the back of your mind, affecting your concentration, or you’ll stop one task to deal with things that arrive, affecting your efficiency. Instead, set aside time to process everything you’ve captured. The flowchart above shows a method for GTD processing. Ask yourself these questions:

• Is this actionable?  That is, does it require action? If not, file it or toss it. If it requires action, move on to the next question.
• What’s the next action? If there’s more than one step involved, then the item is a project, and it should go to its appropriate project list. If it’s a single step, then do it if it will take less than 2 minutes, delegate it if it would be a better use of someone else’s time than yours, or add it to your to-do list or calendar if it should be done at another time.

By this time, you have nothing left but action items. You don’t want an enormous to-do list to plow through, so you’ll need to identify contexts for your actions. The context of an action is its setting. Some things need to be done at home, some at the office, some online, some by phone, and so on. Sort your action items according to their context by labeling them “@office,” “@computer,” as the requirements of the task demand. Labeling them with @ means they’ll be listed and sorted together automatically if you use electronic tools for this step.

Here’s the beauty of the context sort: next time you’re waiting somewhere, with your phone but no computer, you can check your @phone list and take those essential next actions, instead of getting stressed over having to wait. Next time you’re doing intensive work online and need a break, or have to wait for a response before continuing, you can choose an item from the @online list.

You can use web 2.0 tools to make this process accessible and practical wherever you are. Remember the Milk is a tool that we like. Here are a few of the benefits of using RTM for GTD:

• Capture, sorting, delegating, and processing can all be taken care of directly in RTM.
• RTM can be accessed from your iPhone or your Twitter account, your Android or Blackberry or your Google account, as well as from the website.
• You can rely on RTM to text or email you when a deadline or meeting is coming up, so you don’t have to keep things in the back of your mind.

RTM and GTD fit with the big picture of how we do things at Clevertech:

• Let technology improve your life.
• Work in ways that fit the way you like to work, instead of making your work habits fit the convenience of your hardware or software.
• Use smart systems to make your workflow more effective.

Recently, we’ve been working on a system that allows companies to have hundreds of people input data immediately for processing by Sage accounting systems. Instead of sending data from multiple users to a central user who then has to input that data — with multiple points along the way at which miscommunication, human error, and data loss could take place — we’ll allow ubiquitous capture and regular processing. It’s like the difference between carrying buckets from a well and having central plumbing. But a little higher tech.

In other cases, we’ve added sms texting functionality to allow access on our client’s terms, improved user interfaces to streamline the GUI experience, and created rich applications that are aesthetically pleasing. In every case, we’re making the systems work better for the people who use them.

Contact Clevertech to discuss how we can bring these principles to your company, to make life better for your staff, stakeholders, and clients.

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