Gmail gadget: Getting Things Done

Feb2010

Categorizing and managing actionable emails is something that Gmail doesn’t handle very well out-of-the-box. Labels, while useful, are unwieldy when it comes to workflow. After running into numerous problems with the Quicklinks feature in Gmail Labs, I decided to put together a small Gmail sidebar gadget.

Although this Gmail addon admittedly doesn’t adhere to the official “Getting Things Done” standard, it does come closer to that method than Gmail’s Labels, while also remaining easy to use.

After installing this Gmail sidebar, you’ll also have to enable the Superstars feature in Gmail Labs. Then you’ll be able to go to your Gmail General Settings to select which special stars you would like to use. Here are the specific steps to get up and running with the Gmail addon:

1. Go to the Gmail Labs Settings for your account and enable “Superstars” and “Add any gadget by URL“
2. Install the Gmail GTD gadget in your Gadget Settings using http://a9z.org/gmailGTD/gmail-GTD-sidebar.xml
3. Setup your Superstars along the lines of the example below.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. If people are interested, I’ll be open to making the sidebar gadget a little more customizable with additional features.