A couple of folks here in our office are real devotees of GTD -- the acronym made famous online by David Allen and his productivity system. Being a bit of an iconoclast -- can you be a bit of one? -- I have long eschewed such official programs for Getting Things Done. But the truth is, when you live on Internet time, as I've done since about 1996, you've got to have a system or you'll drown in bits.

In my family, I'm famous for not being the organized one. Now, I'll tell you two things right off:

• Everything is relative. My mother and my sisters are borderline compulsive about lining up their ducks in a row.


• And second, since my natural state tends more toward entropy, I've become an expert at using a few tools to fence in my chaos.

Here are my favorite organization tools:

• Microsoft Excel. I know, I know. Say what you will about the Evil Empire, but if you've been using spreadsheets as long as I have, you start to think that way. Excel is often my first tool, though it's rarely the final one. I start here making lists and figuring out how to think about a project.


• Basecamp and related products. This is where many projects end up. I collaborate with all my coworkers on the Hammock Basecamp site, where we keep tabs on publications and web projects. I frequently use Backpack -- the 37signals offering that's sort of a step down from Basecamp. It's perfect for personal project management, like, planning my family's Thanksgiving dinner.


• Gootodo. I'm still playing with this one. Created by Mark Hurst of Creative Good, this also aims to fulfill your task-management needs. I don't have it fully worked into my brain the way I do the 37signals products, though.


• My Franklin planner. Yes, old school. Pencil, paper, calendar. For me, it's still part of the daily routine. It's faster to find most info here than even on a hand-held device. And when I write something down, I'm much more likely to remember it. Typing doesn't seem to have as strong an effect on my memory, though it's a step up from just hearing or saying something.